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#37 April 1, 2015
Window for action loving PROFESSIONALS
Humor is a serious thing. I like to think of it as one of our greatest earliest natural resources, which must be preserved at all cost. James Thurber
Dear Readers Greetings! Imagine if you were to live in a world where there are no smiles, laughter and fun! I would surely hate it. A lot many people make an effort to create such a world around them and then lock themselves in it. How are your surroundings? How are you influencing your surroundings? Do people miss you badly when you are not around? How is your laughter quotient? Do you laugh at yourself? How do you handle your team meetings with your strike of brilliant humour to ease away the tensions? More questions, more introspection, more actions… Keep laughing… Rajiv Khurana Editor rajiv@rajivkhurana.com 9810211256.
Invest in your sense of humor
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I HATE TO SMILE
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Your Laughter Quotient
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10 Reasons Why Humor Is A Key To Success At Work
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Tension busters
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Humor Quotes
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May those who love us love us, and those who do not love us, may God turn their hearts, and if He cannot turn their hearts may He turn their ankles that we may know them by their limping. ~Irish Prayer Advt. Pages 11-12
Coaching Learning Advancing Sharpening Smartening ©
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#37 April 1, 2015
Window for action loving PROFESSIONALS
INVEST IN YOUR
SENSE F HUM R Rajiv Khurana, CMC, FIMC
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See the funny side to almost anything Imagine. I may be sitting in my shorts and writing this stuff for you. Seriously.
Enthuse yourself
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See more comedy shows and channels. Read the lighter stuff. Force yourself to get into the act. When you can’t make it, fake it.
Neutralize negativity around you
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Banish all the DA’s [Dukhi Atma] from your surroundings. They won’t let you live and would never be happy with you, what you do.
Search for stuff
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More uncommon, more the better. Go deeper into the net if you must search for. Avoid forwarding the flavour of the day message on WhatsApp.
Encourage others to share
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When you invite people, you get suitably flooded. An IPS friend of mine has a good collection of unique jokes. He shared his secret with me once. He sanctions the leaves of people reporting to him only when they narrate a brand new joke to him. The government too has a sense of humour.
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#37 April 1, 2015
Window for action loving PROFESSIONALS
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Open up Laugh aloud. So what if you have heard the joke 122nd time. Enjoy the effort by the person. He may reciprocate.
Find funny friends Nurture them. Laugh at self with them. Laugh at each other. The bonding will get stronger and stronger.
Hold your laughter yoga at work place 10 minutes per 2 hours won’t be a bad deal. Just don’t over do it. Why crib over the boss. Make fun of him!
Understand when your humour falls flat
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Assess the situation and people. Every time you may not succeed. So what, every batsman does not score a century too, all the time. Keep your spirits high.
Make faces in front of the mirror
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Yes. We all came from the monkeys. Meet your monkey every day in the bathroom. Imagine all the silly things you are capable of doing and laugh. This is your net practice.
Observe boundaries No gender based, religious, political stuff… Avoid all the risks as your personal brand is at stake.
Regularly hone up your skills Let people miss you when you are not at the workplace for what you do for them.
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I HATE to SMILE
#37 April 1, 2015
- Rajiv Khurana
Window for action loving PROFESSIONALS
When I was a child, I read somewhere, "Smile costs you nothing but buys everything.” I tried using it whenever I went to the market. It was indeed a great deal of hard work looking into the eyes of the sad, sullen or frowning faces and trying to give my self priced million rupees smile. Months passed by but my smile did not buy me even a single toffee. “Old sayings are never meant for serious action”, perhaps, became my first learning. Since then, I hate to smile. I think I am not alone. The world around is full of us. Just walk into any departmental store, a bank or even an amusement park, smile will always be conspicuous by its absence. We are serious people after all. We mean serious business. The service providers I have interacted with have almost common reasons for not smiling. They say: We get paid for work. Hard work. Not smile. We do not want customers to become over familiar with us. They will take advantage of us if we smile. We don’t want to offer them extra facilities or discounts. Customers are always scared of complaining when we give them a serious no-nonsense look. This helps in keeping the complaint register lighter. It adds to our achievements. If an occasional customer goes away because we did not give him the right attention and smile, it sends the right message to our employers. Payment of peanuts cannot buy cashewnuts shaped smiles. Our customers are now quite used to us. If we try to give them a smile now, it will alert them. They may think that we have learnt another way to ‘con’ them. Sounds logical. I think not smiling takes a lot of hard work. Whoever said, ”When you smile you use 14 muscles and when you frown you use 79 muscles.”, is absolutely right. I wonder why such a strenuous effort of people like us gets un-noticed and unappreciated.
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#37 April 1, 2015
Window for action loving PROFESSIONALS
Lets step into the corporate corridors and peep into the daily happenings. We all give what we get. The frown from top to bottom passes with supersonic and snow balling intensity. You cannot survive in a competitive corporate environment without a tough faced competitive aggression. Even the business schools of repute understand the futility of smile. They do not teach it. Ask any boss and his reasons for not smiling will be almost the same: The Boss is always right. Rough exteriors get tough results. Any questions? A ‘critical’ facial disposition helps in maintaining an alert workforce exposition. [Sounds High!] An occasional experimentation with smile because of the recommendations by an expensive corporate trainer has always resulted in higher leaves, more monetary incentives, work allocation negotiations etc. The abandonment of smile brings the status quo back resulting in greater overall work harmony. Experience therefore is a great teacher. Frowning helps better in HRD [Human Racehorse Development!]. Imagine the plight of people when they receive a smile. What will be going on in the mind of the patient in the operation theater when the doctor smiles at him? How would the accused be thinking when he is in the interrogation chamber and the inspector smiles at him? Or imagine your plight when you get an occasional smile from the steward in an expensive restaurant when he places the ‘check’ in the folder before you. The smile could be deadlier than the bullet if you are facing the firing squad. Smile is a great deception. Deceptions are bad. Unethical. Be what you are. Few hundred frowns a day can keep the troublemakers away. Adopt this management mantra today.
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Statement 1. I hear myself laughing out loud.
#37 April 1, 2015
2. I am a fun person to be with.
Window for action loving PROFESSIONALS
3. My sense of humour helps me to get along with others. 4. I play spontaneously.
Your Laughter Quotient
5. I feel O.K. about acting silly in appropriate situations. 6. I regularly plan times for playing and laughing.
7. I can laugh at my own mistakes.
Almost Never
1
Seldom
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9. I use humour to help others feel better.
Sometimes
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Often
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10. I avoid using humour that makes others feel uncomfortable.
Always
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8. I make the best of bad situations.
11. I avoid sarcastic and negative humour. 12. I can see something positive in most situations. 13. I take time out for holidays. 14. My family and friends support my need for fun. 15. When I feel stressed, my sense of humour keeps things in perspective.
>75= Great! 50-75 = So So <50 = ??? http://healingwithhumor.com
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16. I feel comfortable laughing at work. 17. I allow myself to play first and work later.
18. My sense of humour is one of my best qualities. 19. I believe laughing contributes to my sense of well-being. 20. The more I laugh the better I feel. Total
Score
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#37 April 1, 2015
Window for action loving PROFESSIONALS
10 Reasons Why Humor Is A Key To Success At Work Jacquelyn Smith Forbes http://www.forbes.com/s ites/jacquelynsmith/2013 /05/03/10-reasons-whyhumor-is-a-key-tosuccess-at-work/
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People will enjoy working with you. “People want to work with people they like,” Vanderkam says. “Why wouldn’t you? You spend huge chunks of your waking hours at work, so you don’t want it to be a death march. Humor–deftly employed–is a great way to win friends and influence people. You need to be funny, but not snarky (that’s not good for team building) and you can’t offend anyone.” Humor is a potent stress buster. “In fact, it’s a triple whammy,” Kerr explains. “Humor offers a cognitive shift in how you view your stressors; an emotional response; and a physical response that relaxes you when you laugh.” It is humanizing. “Humor allows both employees and managers to come together, realizing that we all seek common ground,” Taylor says. It puts others at ease. Humor is a way to break through the tension barrier, she says. “Research shows that humor is a fabulous tension breaker in the workplace,” Kerr adds. “People who laugh in response to a conflict tend to shift from convergent thinking where they can see only one solution, to divergent thinking where multiple ideas are considered.” Ha + ha = aha! “Humor is a key ingredient in creative thinking,” Kerr says. “It helps people play with ideas, lower their internal critic, and see things in new ways.” Humor and creativity are both about looking at your challenges in novel ways and about making new connections you’ve never thought about before, he adds. Taylor agrees. She says humor “establishes a fertile environment for innovation because people are more inspired when they are relaxed.”
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#37 April 1, 2015
Window for action loving PROFESSIONALS
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It helps build trust. “You can build trust with the effective use of humor because humor often reveals the authentic person lurking under the professional mask,” Kerr says. He explains that numerous studies suggest that people who share a healthy, positive sense of humor tend be more likable and are viewed as being more trustworthy. “Humor is also viewed as sign of intelligence,” he adds. “All of these characteristics, as well as the fact that humor is a fabulous icebreaker and can tear down walls, can help people build relationships in the workplace, and especially these days, relationships are critical to success.” It boosts morale. Humor boosts morale and retention while reducing turnover because employees look forward to coming to work, Taylor says. “Employees like to work for and with others who have a sense of humor. We all prefer to have fun at work. It should not feel like an indentured servitude environment.” People who use humor tend to be more approachable. The more approachable you are, especially as a leader, the more honest and open people around you will be, Kerr says. “And the more honest and open people tend to be, the more successful and innovative teams tend to be.” Humor can allow your company to stand out. “It can help companies stand out and go beyond with their customer service, garnering them a huge loyal following,” he says. If you want to stand out from the pack, using humor with your service is an effective way to do that. It can increase productivity. “Humor creates an upbeat atmosphere that encourages interaction, brainstorming of new ideas, and a feeling that there are few risks in thinking outside the box. All that leads to greater productivity,” Taylor explains. “It also stands to reason that if you’re in a more jovial atmosphere, you’ll have more passion for what you do. Your work ethic will increase, and your enthusiasm will likely be contagious. It’s a win-win for you and your employer.”
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#37 April 1, 2015
Window for action loving PROFESSIONALS
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A clean desk is a sign of a cluttered desk drawer. If at first you don't succeed, redefine success. You have the capacity to learn from your mistakes. You will learn a lot today. A thing not worth doing isn't worth doing well. If a thing is worth doing, it would have been done already. Hard work never killed anyone, but why chance it? I don't have a solution, but I do admire the problem. Many people quit looking for work when they find a job. I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by. Is reading in the bathroom considered multi-tasking? Seen it all. Done it all. Can't remember most of it. Do not put statements in the negative form. 43% of all statistics are worthless. A Committee is a group of people who individually can do nothing, but as a group decide that nothing can be done. I have enough money to last me the rest of my life. (Unless I buy something) MEETINGS, A practical alternative to work. I need someone really bad. Are you really bad?
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#37 April 1, 2015
Humor Quotes
Window for action loving PROFESSIONALS
A compromise is an agreement whereby both parties get what neither of them wanted. ~Author Unknown If The Phone Doesn't Ring, It's Me. ~Song title by Jimmy Buffet Today is the last day of some of your life. ~Author Unknown “If you're too openminded; your brains will fall out.” ― Lawrence Ferlinghetti Just remember, if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off. ~Author Unknown
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“I don't hate people. I just feel better when they aren't around.” ― Charles Bukowski A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking. ~Attributed to Arthur McBride Bloch “If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?” ― George Carlin
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