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Tag Archive: fun

Clowning Achievements

Written on May 7, 2009 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Work

In case you’re wondering, there isn’t a typographical error in today’s title. We don’t want to talk about crowning achievements.

We saw a fantastic article in Business Week about the impact of humor in organizations. It’s an interview with Chris Robert, a management professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia and author of a recent study The Case for Developing New Research on Humor and Culture in Organizations: Toward a Higher Grade of Manure.

Now there’s a professor with a great sense of humor!

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Hear George & Mary-Lynn share some humorous commentary on The Bigg Success Show! Click the purple player to listen while you read: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Chuckles and creativity are connected

In his paper, he points out that humor is a universal language. It helps us feel more comfortable with other people. It brings out our child-like nature. It’s also contagious – one joke often brings on another.

Humor is also associated with intelligence and creativity, highly valued traits in today’s workplace. Dr. Robert notes that the main theory about humor is that we often laugh when two disparate things are put together.

A theory about humor? How funny!

He states that creativity often involves the same thing – connecting the dots. This link between being funny and being creative is supported by a number of studies.

Crack a joke and keep your employees

There’s also a strong connection between humor and positive emotions. He says that numerous studies have linked positive feelings with productivity in the workplace. So if you want a higher performing team, develop a sense of humor.

Finally, he points out that the real benefit comes in employee retention. People are less likely to quit if they feel their place of work is a positive place to be.

So how do you bring humor into the workplace?

Connect the dots

As we mentioned earlier, connect things that don’t naturally fit together. Here’s an example from Jay Leno:

“It’s crazy. First we had Mad Cow. Then we had bird flue. Now we have swine flu. Do we have to check the Chinese horoscope to see what flu is coming next?”

He’s mixing a current topic in with animals and the Chinese horoscope.

Pull it back in

Bring up a topic that was funny earlier. Or maybe it wasn’t funny earlier but it may be funny now. David Letterman is a master at this. Do you remember, “Uma … Oprah”? It bombed at the Oscars, but Dave often gets a bigg chortle when he does this.

Word play

The title to this post is an example. It may not make you laugh out loud, but you might get a little chuckle out of it. Sometimes a play on words can set off a bigg laugh.

A few lessons

Share other people’s humor like we did with Jay Leno. Understand that humor is subjective. You have to know your audience. Dave’s humor didn’t fly at the Oscars.

Be yourself. You can’t force it. Some people are good at off-the-cuff comments. Others have to plan it out.

Finally, remember that you don’t have to be funny yourself to participate. Laughing at a joke connects you just as much as making one!

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Please join us next time when we talk about a great way to have fun with your friends using only things you already have in your home.

Thanks so much for reading our post today. Until next time, here’s to your bigg success!

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(Image in today's post by Tzvook)

1 Comment

Family Fun is No Trivial Pursuit

Written on May 1, 2009 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Balance, Play

Is there a better way to spend your play time than spending time with your family?

We know … we know – it depends on the family!

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Hear George & Mary-Lynn share their family trivia on The Bigg Success Show! Click the purple player to listen while you read: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Family time is special time. It’s great to just hang out with people who you know really care about you.

The great thing about family time is that we can have fun without spending a lot of money. There are so many options, especially when the weather is nice. How much does it cost to go outside and play Frisbee?

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marylynn George’s family has a bigg reunion every year. One of the festivities is a lively game of softball. His family is incredibly competitive, but it’s all good-natured fun.

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george Well, it’s usually good natured! You definitely have to be able to take some ribbing!

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Your Family’s Trivial Pursuit

Games and family go hand-in-hand. So how about creating a game that’s all about your family? Think of it as your own family’s Trivial Pursuit.

It may not cost a thing. It certainly won’t cost much unless you choose to make a really deluxe version. It can be as simple as sheets of paper with the questions written on them and a blank sheet of paper for scoring.

You may create a list of questions about your close family. It will be a walk down memory lane! You may extend it to the larger family. It’s a great way to help your kids learn more about your whole family.

Make the questions both interesting and fun. Obviously, you want to avoid embarrassing family members so that it remains a fun endeavor and doesn’t turn into the family feud!

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marylynn Here’s a question I would ask. George will know the answer right off the bat. This author was one of my mom’s favorites and is also one of my husband’s favorites. Who is he?

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george
Dashiell Hammett.

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marylynn
Extra points if you can spell it, George!

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george I had to look it up! I can think of an interesting question about my dad. I bet a lot of my family doesn’t know it or they’ve tried to forget it, but it made our local paper! My dad actually spent a night in jail! So that would be the focus of my question: for what did he spend the night in jail? Answer: It was a contract dispute. Dad lost the case. He said he would go to jail before he paid the money. The judge obliged! It only took one night before dad decided he’d had enough and paid the amount required.

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marylynn So I guess George is suggesting that our game include a “Go directly to jail – do not pass “Go” – do not collect $200” card!

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That’s the beauty of this idea – you can create this game however you want. Have fun with it! It’s a creative endeavor. Sometimes we get more creative when we try not to spend money.

This simple game is an example. So have some fun with your family for free and work on your creativity skills all at the same time. Sounds like a bigg success to us!