During our coaching session recently, Tom* and I ended up laughing at something totally silly. It wasn’t even that funny. But we couldn’t stop laughing. Every time one of us managed to compose ourselves, the other person’s snigger would set them off again. And so it went ...for several minutes.
As we were drying our eyes he said “I can’t remember the last time I belly laughed”.
Wait what?!? (as my teenage daughter would say)
He’s not alone though. When did we decide to take life so seriously? To stop seeing the lighter side? To stop being able to laugh at ourselves?
Sometimes we fall out of love with the work we’re doing because it’s become too serious. Getting the sale is serious. Completing the piece of research is serious. Putting together the presentation is serious. Conducting interviews is serious. Managing and inspiring your team is serious.
No wonder so many of us feel burnt out and are seriously considering quitting our jobs, or counting down the hours until the weekend, the next holiday, or retirement.
So my challenge, if you’re up for making your work life more fun, is to inject a little bit of fun, a little bit of humour into your days. If you lead a team of people they’ll almost certainly appreciate experiencing a slightly more light-hearted version of you. Being in an environment where people feel comfortable to have a bit of a laugh fosters creativity, and encourages collaboration and effective team work. It’s hard to create great work from a place of fear, anxiety and stress.
Do you laugh much at work? How do YOU think it affects your work?
ps. Speaking of laughter...I recently interviewed a wonderful comedian on my podcast about how she balances a "proper job" with being a stand up comedian. If you fancy eavesdropping on our conversation you can find it here https://youtu.be/P8bQrqhG4rM
* Not his real name. His real name is Bob Smith.
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