The FUNdamentals of Humor: How to Add a Bolt of Lighten ing to Your Life and Work

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "The FUNdamentals of Humor: How to Add a Bolt of Lighten ing to Your Life and Work"

Howard Spencer
5 years ago
Views:

May 22 24, 2006 Starr Pass Resort Tucson, Arizona The FUNdamentals of Humor: How to Add a Bolt of Lighten ing to Your Life and Work Presented by: Ronald P.

1 May 22 24, 2006 Starr Pass Resort Tucson, Arizona The FUNdamentals of Humor: How to Add a Bolt of Lighten ing to Your Life and Work Presented by: Ronald P. Culberson, MSW, CSP Director of Everything FUNsulting, Inc. Ron has spent most of his life appreciating the FUN and humor in everyday experiences. Whether as a cemetery caretaker or in the spotlight as an art auctioneer, Ron always focused on the lighter side of his work. More recently, Ron spent 10 years in a large hospice organization as a clinical social worker, Manager of Counseling Services and Director of Quality Service. Since 1996, he has been the Director of Everything at FUNsulting, etc. In 2001 Ron received the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation, the highest earned designation from the National Speakers Association. The CSP is the speaking profession s international measure of professional platform skill and has been received by only 421 individuals worldwide. Ron s experiences as a hospice social worker and a senior manager have inspired him to help others realize the importance of finding balance in life. He has provided entertaining, informative and FUN programs to over 30,000 people in more than 450 associations, government agencies, non profit organizations and Fortune 500 companies.

2 Post-Symposium Availability Shortly after the conclusion of the Symposium, most General Session and Breakout Session presentations will be available for licensed MIDAS+ Clients to view and download from our Web site: The presentations will be available in read only format. For information about obtaining the native Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, please contact the presenter(s) directly. Contact us at: ACS Healthcare Solutions MIDAS North Pantano Road, Suite 200 Tucson, Arizona (520) (800) Visit our Web site at: MIDAS+, the MIDAS+ logo, DataVision, ReporTrack, Seeker, and SmarTrack are trademarks of MidasPlus, Inc. The ACS logo is a registered trademark of ACS, Inc. Third party trademarks, trade names, product names, and logos may be the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

3 The FUNdamentals of Humor: How to Add a Bolt of Lighten ing to Your Life and Work 1 The FUNdamentals of Humor How to Put a Bolt of Lighten ing in Your Life & Work See Your Glass Laugh Full! presented by Ronald P. Culberson, MSW, CSP for the MIDAS+ User Symposium May 23, 2006

4 2 The FUNdamentals of Humor: How to Add a Bolt of Lighten ing to Your Life and Work FUNdamental 1: You don t have to be serious, if you re GOOD Do you ever wonder, Don t I have to be serious to get respect? Instead of being serious, you should strive to be good. It s your values and skills that earn respect not your seriousness. By being good at your roles in work or life while using the proper values to guide your decision making, you convey integrity that commands respect from others. Lighten ing Bolt: Strive to maintain the best values and skills that you can. Identify the values by which you want to live. Write them down, put them where you will see them and live by them. Perform regular self assessments of your skills in your work and personal life and ask others for feedback. Attend classes, conferences and workshops in the areas where you need improvement. Read, read, read. FUNdamental 2: Humor adds BALANCE to the stress in your life Humor serves as a buffer to protect you from the effects of stress. By creating an emotional distance between you and the stress, humor allows you to take a break from adversity while you regroup and regain your composure. Prolonged exposure to stress affects us physically and emotionally. Use humor as the leverage to keep your balance. Lighten ing Bolt: Enjoy the humor around you at least once a day. Read the comics in the morning newspaper. Look for funny headlines, signs, ads or commercials. Watch for funny things other people say and do. Pay attention to the funny things kids say and do. FUNdamental 3: Humor forces you to see a new PERSPECTIVE Humor, by nature, creates a new perspective. By leading you down one path and then changing directions, humor forces you to see the situation differently. This incongruence makes you laugh. A new perspective can be an asset when you are faced with challenges and problems. Humor can be the tool that allows you to see adversity with a whole new perspective. Lighten ing Bolt: The next time you find yourself in adversity, try to see something funny. Look for the humor that may have occurred in the adversities in your past. Ask yourself every day, Did something funny happen today? Ask your friends and family what humor they see. Watch sitcoms, comedians and funny movies for examples of humor in adversity.

5 The FUNdamentals of Humor: How to Add a Bolt of Lighten ing to Your Life and Work 3 FUNdamental 4: You CONNECT with one another through laughter Research has shown that we like to be around people who have a sense of humor. Since we are attracted to that trait, humor becomes a great way to connect with others. Humor can reduce conflict, enhance communication and smooth over interpersonal tension. Lighten ing Bolt: Find time to laugh with others Share a joke, cartoon or funny story with a friend or colleague every day. Bring humor (jokes, cartoons, quotes) to your customers. Hold a regular laugh lunch where people share stories and jokes while they eat. Spend time with people who make you laugh. FUNdamental 5: Humor makes a MESSAGE more memorable Humor has been shown to enhance the recall and retention of information. When used to illustrate points, humor makes the learning experience more FUN. It provides balance to the serious information; it creates a new way of understanding the material being presented; and it establishes a memorable link to the point being made. Lighten ing Bolt: Use at least one bit of humor in your communications. Include humor in every presentation. Add humor to s, memos and letters. Put a funny message on your answering machine. Include a humor column in your newsletter. FUNdamental 6: Humor makes work more FUNctional The workplace is typically pretty serious. Humor can make work more enjoyable without sacrificing productivity or the integrity of the work being performed. It can create a FUN environment that attracts employees and encourages them to contribute. Lighten ing Bolt: Incorporate humor into your work environment. Start every meeting with a bit of humor and make meeting processes FUN. Decorate your work environment with FUN props, posters and signs. Celebrate successes regularly. Look for ways to make routine, mundane processes more FUN NOTES:

4 The FUNdamentals of Humor: How to Add a Bolt of Lighten ing to Your Life and Work Learning Resources The following resources, at www.funsulting.

articles, resources and other FUN stuff to reinforce the material in this program and to enhance your humor potential Products you can purchase on our secure shopping cart: o Books: Is Your Glass

6 4 The FUNdamentals of Humor: How to Add a Bolt of Lighten ing to Your Life and Work Learning Resources The following resources, at will help you add a bolt of lighten ing to your life and work: FREE articles, recommended reading list and links to other helpful sites FREE printed newsletter LIGHTENing Bolts that includes articles, resources and other FUN stuff to reinforce the material in this program and to enhance your humor potential Products you can purchase on our secure shopping cart: o Books: Is Your Glass LAUGH Full? Some Thoughts on Seeing Humor In Life by Ronald P. Culberson Humor Me: America s Funniest Humorists on the Power of Laughter (Anthology by 16 humorists) o Video (DVD & VHS)The FUNdamentals of Humor o Audio: The FUNdamentals of Humor (CD) Putting the FUN Back in Healthcare (CD) Leading with Laughter by Malcolm Kushner (Cassette) Information on Ron s other programs and services About Your Speaker Ronald P. Culberson, Director of Everything! at FUNsulting, etc., is a speaker, humorist, columnist, author of Is Your Glass Laugh Full? and former hospice social worker whose mission is to work with organizations that want their people to lighten up by using humor to minimize stress and maximize effectiveness. He is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), the highest earned award from the National Speakers Association, and is one of less than 7% of speakers worldwide who have received this designation. He has provided entertaining and informative programs to over 80,000 people in more than 700 associations, government agencies, non-profit organizations and Fortune 500 companies.

7 NOTES

LIGHTENing Bolts Vol 1 No 4 October 2003 STANDARD WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

LIGHTENing Bolts Vol 1 No 4 October 2003 STANDARD WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION Welcome to LIGHTENing Bolts, a bi-monthly, semi-annual, irregular email newsletter to help you lighten up through the power of