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Humor to Lighten the Day--Fun Sites for Accountants and Lawyers The person who knows how to laugh at himself will never You have probably heard Star Trek's Mr. Spock utter his Vulcan greeting many times, ``Live long and prosper." Scientific evidence is showing increasingly that humor and laughing have the potential to improve your state of well-being and prolong life--or at least, quality of life. This can be particularly important in serious professions such as medicine, law and accounting, where people tend to take themselves very seriously because of the impact of the work they do. Don Seibert, former Chairman of the J.C. Penney Company believed in using humor in the workplace. ``Humor helps you to keep your head clear when you're dealing in highly technical information or difficult decisions where choices aren't that clear." In other words, you can be a serious professional without being a solemn professional. Time addiction, according to retired psychologist Walter O'Connell, can prevent one from displaying a sense of humor. And aren't most of us time-addicted today? A sense of humor is important because it protects one's sense of self-esteem, and bolsters a sense of well-being. And contrary to what you may see in the people around you, it *is* possible to develop a sense of humor. Bringing humor into the firm creates an environment in which people are motivated to rise to the heroics that busy season or serious client service issues often require. Studies have shown that humor enhances the ability to cope with crisis and tragedy, as well as inspire hope and courage. It can also help avert burnout. Sociologist Suzanne Kobassa defines three "hardiness factors" that can increase a person's resilience to stress and prevent burnout--commitment, control, and challenge. If you have a strong commitment to yourself and your work, if you believe that you are in control of the choices in your life, and if you see change as challenging rather than threatening; then you are more likely to cope successfully with stress. One theme rising in popularity is the idea that a sense of powerlessness is a causative factor in burnout. Humor can be empowering. As comedian Bill Cosby says, ``If you can laugh at it, you can survive it." Humor helps boost right brain activity and thus the creative processes, said nurse-humorist Patty Wooten, past president of The American Association of Therapeutic Humor recently. She further says that people do not need to be joke tellers to incorporate more humor into their lives. You can surround yourself with funny things in your office, or keep funny toys or cartoon books in your desk drawer (or set bookmarks for some of the sites below and surf when you have a lull in your daily routine). ``The ability to laugh at a situation or problem gives us a feeling of superiority and power. Humor and laughter can foster a positive and hopeful attitude. We are less likely to succumb to feelings of depression and helplessness if we are able to laugh at what is troubling us. Humor gives us a sense of perspective on our problems. Laughter provides an opportunity for the release of those uncomfortable emotions which, if held inside, may create biochemical changes that are harmful to the body," Wooten says. I love a quote I came across from Tom Peters, "The number one premise of business is that it need not be boring or dull. It ought to be fun. If it's not fun, you're wasting your life." Set the tone by modeling your ability to take your job seriously and yourself lightly. One of the simplest and most powerful ways of doing this is to "tell stories on yourself" whenever appropriate. The root of the word humor is ``umor" which means fluid or liquid. Doctors in the Middle Ages believed the ``humors" were bodily fluids that each corresponded to a particular emotional state. Since those times, we have equated humor with a particular state of body, emotion and spirit. The fact that humor has the ability to affect our entire beings is not a new concept. Surgeon Henri de Mondeville wrote in the 1300s, ``Let the surgeon take care to regulate the whole regimen of the patient's life for joy and happiness, allowing his relatives and special friends to cheer him, and by having someone tell him jokes." The next time you see a cluster of people sitting in the coffee room laughing, join in. Use the sites below to arm yourself with a joke or two to contribute. Or dare to be even more radical. Start an office-wide joke-a-day by e-mail. You'll easily find hundreds of them on the Internet. Who knows what kind of good feelings and morale boost it might generate when the next emergency deadline hits? Next Week's Feature: Building an Intranet Look here for more information The Rubber Room at The ‘Lectric Law Library Barbara Rush's Collection of Strange Cases AccountingNet - Coffee Break Archives Mr. Learned's Legal Humor Page Nolo's Favorite Lawyer Jokes The Capitol Steps Lawyer Jokes and Legal Humor Grantland Client Homepage The Dilbert Zone Copyright 1997 by Kaye Vivian (kvivian@cloud9.net). All rights reserved. Permission to reprint is granted provided this article is not altered and the copyright notice remains attached |
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