Lighten Up to Accomplish Your Serious Goals

By Greg Fullerton

When I was young and recently married, I had the crazy thought that I’d become a physical therapist.

I thought it would be cool to talk to people and make them feel better for a living.

So I got a night-shift job as an orderly in a rest home in their physical therapy department. I started out below the lowest rung on the corporate ladder — changing beds and bedpans.

I also helped residents with physical therapy. Occasionally, one of the residents would have an accident of the Number Two variety.

I would have to call a janitor over the intercom for clean-up duty. Just trying to have a little fun on the job, I’d call “Code Brown, Physical Therapy. Code Brown.”

Needless to say, the powers-that-be weren’t too pleased with this. They’d organize staff meetings just for me.

“You can’t say ‘Code Brown,’” they’d admonish me.

“Well, how come?” I’d ask. “Don’t you think that’s funny?”

“No,” they’d fume, “you’re degrading the whole code system.”

“Does it mean something else?” I’d ask.

“Well, no, but you just can’t say that.”

“What do you want me to say?” I’d press. “Mr. Smith pooped in physical therapy?”

Exasperated, they’d sputter, “Just call for clean-up.”

Those were good times. Maybe I was pushing things too far, I don’t know. But I do know that many people take things way too seriously in life and in business.

Don’t get me wrong — life isn’t all fun and games and there are a lot of things we should take very seriously.

But taken too far, seriousness cramps our ability to overcome fear, build relationships, and find innovative solutions.

I really believe the old saying that “laughter is the best medicine.”

Humor opens our heart, deflates our pride, relieves stress, releases inhibitions, and helps us see through new eyes.

It can also help us forge and strengthen relationships. As neuroscientist Robert Provine discovered:

“Uniquely human, laughter is, first and foremost, a social signal–it disappears when there is no audience, which may be as small as one other person–and it binds people together. It synchronizes the brains of speaker and listener so that they are emotionally attuned.”

A healthy sense of humor increases our ability to serve. For example, as an orderly I had fun and joked around, but I also took my role seriously.

On one of my days off, I got permission to take one of our residents, Joe Free, fishing. Joe had multiple sclerosis and was stuck in a wheelchair.

Joe and I had a marvelous time together. I’ll never forget how ecstatic he was to catch a fish.

We joked and played around all day — and this was serious therapy for Joe.

I also believe with Stephen Colbert that “You can’t laugh and be afraid at the same time.”

Furthermore, from Wikipedia we learn that:

“Modern neurophysiology states that laughter is linked with the activation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which produces endorphins after a rewarding activity.”

Bottom line: Laughter makes us feel better. And do we really need science to tell us that we think more clearly and creatively when we feel good?

Take your business goals seriously, but learn to lighten up and laugh through the journey.

You’ll bond with people more easily, transcend fear, and learn to think outside of the box consistently and effectively.

Heck, you may even laugh when someone has to call “Code Brown” for you.