George Gilbert’s Motivational Humor

Growing Older Can Be a Laughing Matter. November 24, 2004 my mother, Tulara Lee, turns 82 years of age. She is still very active and I believe it is because she has been around humor and laughter most of her life. She was 19 years old when she entered show business and has been making people laugh all these years. She still continues to speak with me on the importance of laughter. It seems comedians live longer. Comedian Milton Berle lived in to his nineties. George Burns and Bob Hope lived to one hundred. Maybe it’s because they surrounded themselves with laughter. I can’t think of any other profession where people still continue to work into their late eighties and early nineties. 

According to Dr. Thomas Pearls, director of the New England Centenarian Study, those living to 100 years “handle emotional stress incredibly well.” The centenarians studied had “lost spouses, endured hardships, even survived the horrors of the holocaust. Yet they were generally optimistic and, and in most cases, funny.” He said, “They use humor all the time.” 

In college students look forward to going on spring break. They have been hitting the books all winter, writing term papers, and cramming for mid-term exams. They need a time to let go and de-stress. Unfortunately we can’t all drop our responsibilities and go to Palm Springs or Fort Lauderdale, but we can find ways to recharge our energies.

Unlike the college kids we can’t totally shed our inhibitions. What we can do is loosen up so that our performance at work doesn’t deteriorate. Actually, the work will improve if you are in a relaxed frame of mind and having a little fun on the job. There’s nothing wrong with hard work but constant hard work without a little levity can lead to burnout.

If you’re in a meeting try to inject a little appropriate humor to lighten the atmosphere, reduce some of that stress, and put others in a more receptive mood. Not only will humor improve the quality of your work but it can lead to better interactions and communication with your fellow workers. Just like individuals coming together on the playing field can make a successful baseball team, sharing humor in the work place can enhance teamwork in business.

Everyone needs to take a spring break, but we don’t have to go to a different location to do it. When you’re finding humor, laughing with others and enjoying yourself, that is the essence of what spring break is all about.