A Little Humor Goes A Long Way

I was recently working from my home office. To put things bluntly, it had been a rather intense and challenging day. I was frustrated, my brain hurt and I was feeling overwhelmed. My office door slowly opened and my teenage daughter poked her head in quietly having just returned home from school. Seeing that I wasn't on the phone, she gave me a big smile and said, "Hi Dad!" The first layer of stress and frustration lifted thanks to her smile. I invited her in and we talked about her day. After a quick run down, she pulled out of her pocket a piece of Laffy Taffy and said, "I have a joke for you. Why did the spider cross the road?" I did not know why the spider crossed the road so she said, "To get to it's website."

OK, it was one of those jokes that makes you groan but for me, with the day I had had, I started to smile and laugh. It was just what I needed. In Juggling Elephants we say, "People sometimes need to laugh, relax, and not take themselves so seriously."

If you are finding yourself hitting the wall (literally or figuratively), having a bad day, frustrated and so on...maybe it is time for a mini intermission. Go for a walk, stretch, or call someone and just talk about the weather. Worse case, have a supply of Laffy Taffy, sit back, enjoy the sugar and a joke or two. It can make a difference in your day.

While you are at it, consider others that you work with and that they too may need a "pick me up" or a break every once in awhile. A good joke can go a long way...even if it is a groaner.

The Cost of Clowning Around

The outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, estimate that March Madness (the excitement that follows the NCAA basketball tournament) could cost businesses $1.8 billion in lost productivity and unproductive wages. The estimate is based on the approximate number or participants in office pools, the money they earn, and the time that they will likely spend checking updates and "trash talking." $1.8 billion is a lot of money.

So, what to do? How do you regain some of that lost productivity and clamp down on those who are wasting precious time? Maybe you embrace it! When was the last time your team had an intermission? When was the last time they had fun together? We understand that March Madness can get carried away but maybe a little "clowning around" will get that much needed energy back into the building.

Being a former basketball player, I love March Madness. I introduced a "bracket competition" in a company that was full of people that probably had never picked up a basketball, let alone watched a game. It was a great activity that the whole office had fun with. One Friday, we ordered pizza and watched a game during lunch. I have since left the organization but the tradition and excitement still lives on (they just emailed me a bracket and invited me to play).

It might not be "March Madness" that gets your office excited. Pick something else! Because it is critical to allow employees the opportunity to enjoy themselves and have a little entertainment. From the book Juggling Elephants, "People sometimes need to laugh, relax, and not take themselves so seriously." With a little effort, invest that $1.8 billion that you are going to lose anyway and reap a return.

What's Your Indicator?

Listen to this. A Netherlands-based electronics firm is creating a bracelet that will change color and flicker from yellow to red when a person's emotions rise to unhealthy levels. It's being developed chiefly for stock traders on European exchanges. When trading becomes too intense and the trader's blood pressure rises, the device will issue a warning to "take a time-out, wind down, or reconsider their actions," said the manufacturer. The results, hopefully, will be beneficial to investors-to say nothing of the stock brokers themselves.

What's your early warning indicator that you need to take a break? That you need to step back instead of trying to push forward mentally, emotionally or physically to the next task? Determining it now-before you hit the wall-and then planning how you will replenish the needed resources-will keep your circus running more smoothly.

Even Mini Shifts Need An Intermission

Sue Shellenbarger with the Wall Street Journal has a telling article about an outgrowth of the recession: Mini Shifts. In the article, Recession Tactic: The Mini-Shift, these shifts are usually taken by people out of steady work and who choose to work 3-5 "mini-shifts" of 90 minutes to three hours in length. While they do offer the opportunity for income, the article highlights the challenges associated with these multiple shifts and breakneck pace:

• So much task switching can result in a kind of cognitive stall out Julie Morgenstern calls "mental gear-stripping."
• It creates a lack of "clear edges" between work and personal time which can gradually erode R&R until your life gets out of balance in a very significant way.
• It reduces output. Russell Poldrack, an authority on multi-tasking writes, "Almost any time we switch between doing different tasks, we will be less efficient than if we focused on a single task.

So, in an era where people will have to continue to work mini-shifts to keep food on the table and make ends meet, what is someone to do? Those interviewed in the article said they "pull back and recharge" or "fill gaps with well-planned out activities that re-charge you." Simply put, they plan AND take an intermission. Bravo!

What have you planned today to help you recharge when your circus begins running you?

Deep Thinking

Technology is great. I love that we can listen to music, check email, surf the Internet, check stocks/weather and can call anyone we want with a little portable device that goes everywhere with us. Anytime we have down time or are waiting for the next act in our circus we can be productive or enjoy a little entertainment.

But the flip side to this is that we can fill our time and our minds just about every moment in our day with something. When do we have time to think, ponder or contemplate? Do we take the time anymore to just listen to the thoughts going on in our brain or do we fill the time with music, email, social media, entertainment or the Internet? Down time is very important and we do need to take mental intermissions. But there is a balance where we need to sometimes hit the mute button and just think thoughts. It is important to turn off the distractions for some amount of time for "productive deep thinking" away from the mode of "doing stuff." What "ahas" have you found in your moments of solitude and reflection?

Remove as best as you can any interruptions (unplug the phones, log off the computer, close the door, tell everyone that you have an appointment with yourself for the next 30 minutes and can't be bothered unless the building is on fire). Have a list of items that you want to "think about." It could be a project you are working on, your family, your goals and dreams, strategy, a marketing plan, your next book, your career plan, who am I in the universe... and so on. Focus on one item at a time. Break the topic apart in your mind. Take notes. Listen for inspiration. Brainstorm. Stay focused. Maybe you only get through one item on your list. Allocate time each day to think.

If your day is so intense that you can't take the time to find a quiet place without distractions, be creative. What about during the commute? Turn the radio off and think while you drive. Put away the book, put in ear phones without turning on the MP3 player, close your eyes and think while riding the bus or subway. What about the time just before bed or when you are just waking up?

You don't have to think alone. Bring in your significant other or your work team on occasion. Pick a topic and brainstorm. There doesn't need to be an agenda. Think outside the box. Discuss vision. Are we on the right course? What should we be doing differently? What are we doing right? Write thoughts on the board. Be creative.

It is easy to fill our minds and our days with information, stuff that we need to do, stimulus and distractions. The goal is to carve out some time for focused...deep...thinking. You will be amazed at the "thoughts you will think."