2. Y#37 April 1, 2015
Window for action loving
PROFESSIONALS
2
INVEST IN YOUR
SENSE F HUM R
S
See the funny side to almost anything
Imagine. I may be sitting in my shorts and writing this
stuff for you. Seriously.
E
Enthuse yourself
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.
N
Neutralize negativity around you
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.
S
Search for stuff
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.
E
Encourage others to share
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.
Rajiv Khurana, CMC, FIMC
3. Y#37 April 1, 2015
Window for action loving
PROFESSIONALS
3
O
Open up
Laugh aloud. So what if you have heard the joke 122nd
time. Enjoy the effort by the person. He may reciprocate.
F
Find funny friends
Nurture them. Laugh at self with them. Laugh at each
other. The bonding will get stronger and stronger.
H
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!
U
Understand when your humour falls flat
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.
M
Make faces in front of the mirror
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.
O
Observe boundaries
No gender based, religious, political stuff…
Avoid all the risks as your personal brand is at stake.
R
Regularly hone up your skills
Let people miss you when you are not at the
workplace for what you do for them.
4. Y#37 April 1, 2015
Window for action loving
PROFESSIONALS
4
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 un-
appreciated.
I HATE to SMILE
- Rajiv Khurana
5. Y#37 April 1, 2015
Window for action loving
PROFESSIONALS
5
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. Un-
ethical. Be what you are. Few hundred frowns a
day can keep the troublemakers away. Adopt this
management mantra today.
6. Y#37 April 1, 2015
Window for action loving
PROFESSIONALS
6
Statement Score
1. I hear myself laughing out loud.
2. I am a fun person to be with.
3. My sense of humour helps me to get along
with others.
4. I play spontaneously.
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.
8. I make the best of bad situations.
9. I use humour to help others feel better.
10. I avoid using humour that makes
others feel uncomfortable.
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.
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
Your
Laughter
Quotient
Almost
Never
1
Seldom 2
Sometimes 3
Often 4
Always 5
>75= Great!
50-75 = So So
<50 = ???
http://healingwithhumor.com
7. Y#37 April 1, 2015
Window for action loving
PROFESSIONALS
7
10
Reasons
Why
Humor Is
A Key To
Success
At Work
Jacquelyn
Smith
Forbes
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.”
http://www.forbes.com/s
ites/jacquelynsmith/2013
/05/03/10-reasons-why-
humor-is-a-key-to-
success-at-work/
8. Y#37 April 1, 2015
Window for action loving
PROFESSIONALS
8
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.”
9. Y#37 April 1, 2015
Window for action loving
PROFESSIONALS
9
• 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?
10. Y#37 April 1, 2015
Window for action loving
PROFESSIONALS
If The Phone Doesn't
Ring, It's Me.
~Song title by Jimmy
Buffet
10
Humor
Quotes
A compromise is an
agreement whereby
both parties get what
neither of them
wanted.
~Author Unknown
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 CarlinToday is the last day
of some of your life.
~Author Unknown
“I don't hate people. I
just feel better when
they aren't around.”
― Charles Bukowski
“If you're too open-
minded; your brains
will fall out.”
― Lawrence
Ferlinghetti
Just remember, if the
world didn't suck,
we'd all fall off.
~Author Unknown