When was the last time you laughed? I mean really laughed?

I thought long and hard about this recently and realized that it had been over three months. Serious. That is crazy. You see, I grew up with a comedic mind – constantly coming up with funny incidents. I am a laugher or at least I was.

Be careful not to allow the tension of leadership to outweigh the thrill of leadership. Laughter must have a place in your life in some form or fashion. The pressure of leadership can kill. It can dull you into a drone of premeditated responses and choreographed behaviors.

Laugh again. Let’s stop taking ourselves so serious.

• Turn on some music – live a bit and turn it up loud.
• Buy a funny (and clean) comedy CD – Brad Stine, Brian Reagan or an old classic (I just thought about Jerry Clower – now that is funny).
• Find a cartoon you enjoy. I grew up on the Far Side and Herman – that might explain a lot right there.
• Look for funny things. For years I had amazingly funny things happen to me on my business trips. I would then get with a couple of close friends and download them with humorous detail. Things like Lucky the strangely-named car salesman. Or the time I had to sleep in the same room with a bunch of german students when stuck in Chicago. You should have seen me trying to talk to these guys in German at two in the morning!

Go ahead, loosen up the collar. Drink in life a bit. Thank God for what he has given you and start to laugh. Joy, my friends, is amazing and short on supply in this constant dismal media drain we are experiencing. Laugh at yourself.

By Jeremie Kubicek

GiANT Perspectives