One thing that I have always found to be important in life is laughter.  I don’t think I’m a naturally funny person, you know -  the kind that always has a quick quip for any situation and is a master of circumstantial humor.  But I do try to infuse humor into everyday, especially at work.  I personally love to present something funny, tell a story, or do something out of the ordinary that makes others laugh out loud.  From quiet giggles, to roaring belly laughs, I can’t help but smile when someone else is laughing and it usually leads to me laughing right along side them.  

Last week I talked about the difference between “positive stress” and “distress”, so to expand on that -  Did you know that laughter is actually proven to be a stress reliever?  Laughter doesn’t just lighten your mood, it actually causes physical changes in your body that reduce stress.  Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen, and increases endorphins released by your brain.  Laugher relaxes you by increasing and then decreasing your heart rate and blood pressure.  And, laughter stimulates circulation and helps with muscle relaxation which can reduce some of the symptoms of stress.  You can read more about the benefits of laugher here from the Mayo Clinic. 

Finding things to laugh about in our current state is difficult.  We are bombarded by the news with death tolls, business closures, unemployment statistics and gut wrenching stories about those that are suffering.  This makes it more important than ever to bring humor into our organizations.  I’m not talking about making light of our current state, I’m talking about finding things in our environment that are funny despite the stress that surrounds them.  

For many years at Footers, we have had the tradition of a “kick off” to our weekly meeting.  This is a three minute intro that is designed to make people laugh, think, or just give them a chance to let go of what they would otherwise bring into that meeting.  It could be a video, a game, a quick-fire response, or anything that will help put us in a more positive mood than when we arrived.  In our meetings with our executive team we start with a question.  Last week’s was “if you could go back in time and eat, what period of time or situation would you choose?”.  Despite the fact that this was not a directly funny question, we found humor in more than half of the answers.  I would encourage you to find a way to start your next meeting with a little bit of humor, especially if you’re like me and getting zoom-meeting fatigue.  And if you need some ideas - here are a few things that made me laugh in the past few weeks:

You can hire a llama to join your next zoom call.

I now understand what #PoorJennifer means.

Fast Company detailed here how more people are failing at this whole working from home thing.

We joked that this could be our solution to expedite our ability to catering weddings.

The news anchors in the clip laughing are just as funny as the song.

And finally, I know that many parents are struggling with homeschooling, but I love this account from a student.

I hope something here made you laugh, or at least inspired you to find some humor in your day. 

*Each week I share a leadership message with our team and we are honored to share it with you via MIBE Tribe.  MIBE (the acronym for Make It Better Everyday) Tribe delivers education on heart leadership and intentional culture building for the hospitality industry.