The Magic Of Humour

There has been a decided paradigm shift over the last fifteen years from humour often being thought of as "silly" or "not appropriate," to it being a welcome addition to practically every area of society. The last five years especially have seen an incredible insurgence of humor into the heretofore "no humor permitted" corporate world.

It is interesting how much we pay comedians to make us laugh these days. Professional humorists are one of the top paid people in advanced societies. Check Forbes 100 most paid celebrities and you will find several humourists on the list. It shows the importance that humour plays in our evolving world.

So why are we embracing humour now? Out-of-control stress in both work and home life caused people’s pendulums to swing way too far to one side. Humour is now being used as one of the most powerful forces to help swing the pendulum back to center. (And maybe even further, if we’re lucky!).

“It was so cold where we were,” one man boasted, “that the candle froze and we couldn’t blow it out.” “That’s nothing!” said the other. “Where we were the words came out of our mouths in little pieces of ice and we had to fry them to see what we were talking about.”

Humour sells.

I’m not talking about funny commercials, although they certainly are more memorable than "straight" commercials. I’m talking about a salesperson trying to make a sale. If you can get your prospect to laugh at something in your proposal….or presentation….you have instantly shot to the top of his or her mind. We like people who make us laugh…..and we do business with people we like. And when people are laughing, they don’t feel like they’re being "sold". What can you do to get your laughs? You’re only limited by your imagination.

Humour heals.

There have been countless medical studies and books written on the healing power of humour. I’m not a doctor but I’ve seen enough cases of this to know its validity. Laughing causes endorphins to be released in the system, and they may be more powerful than diet and exercise put together. (Or so you can tell yourself every time you procrastinate your workout sessions.) I think that’s one of the reasons that so many comedians live such long lives. They are surrounded by laughter….their own and their audience’s.

“A man was praying, “Lord, is it true that to You a minute is like a thousand years and a penny is like a thousand dollars?” The Lord answered, “Yes.” Then the man asked, “Then can I have a penny?” The Lord replied. “In a minute.”

The holy creed gives credence to this fact. “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. (Pro 17:22). A good sense of humour will no doubt prolong your life. It is as good (if not better) than medicine. Isn’t that good news for those of us who hates taking drugs! Laughter can do the same job!

Humour diffuses tension.

A speaker is heading to the podium, trips, and falls down. The crowd gasps and there is immediate tension. The speaker quickly looks up and says, "I will now take questions from the floor." A huge laugh follows, and the speaker picks himself up and regains his dignity. Not all of us can think that quickly on their feet….or off their feet, as it were. But when faced with a tense situation, the power of humor will work more quickly to diffuse it than any other remedy.

A fellow found a note at home from his wife saying that she was suddenly called out of town but that he was going to love his dinner for the evening. He could find it on Page 28 of the cookbook!

Another speaker steps onto the platform. Either the wood is rotted, or the supports are bad, but the speaker falls right through the platform, as it collapses around him. Again, tension fills the room. Until the speaker quickly looks up and says, "Don’t mind me. It’s just a stage I’m going through." Both of these stories illustrate how humorous quick thinking can not only diffuse tension, but can raise your credibility to an even higher level than had there been no problem.

Humour gets results.

The bottom line is that humor gets results. No matter what the need is, there is a way that humor can be used to help serve that need. Humour negates anger. Humour creates credibility. Humour gets votes. Humour gets ratings. Humour commands attention. Humour overcomes objections. The list goes on and on.
Whatever hurdles you might be facing at work or at home, don’t be afraid to try humour as a technique for clearing that hurdle.

An IQ test question given to a banker, an electrician, and a politician was, “What term would you use to describe the problem that results when outflow exceeds inflow?” The banker wrote, “Overdraft,” the electrician wrote, “Overload,” and the politician wrote, “What problem?”

You can’t stay mad when you’re laughing. So try to keep laughing. You’ll live longer. You’ll sleep better. And people will wonder what you’re smiling at all the time.

War Against Wastage

Last Saturday, 22nd September 2007, I was privileged to speak at a seminar organized by the Final Year Student of Charis Felllowship International, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife. Tagged “A Touch with the Future”, the program sought to equip intending graduates with effective financial management skills, effective job hunting skills, entrepreneurship skills, amongst others. There were a couple of young career people who were doing well in their various fields there to speak. The list included Jimmy Mokikan, Deji Aderele, Ladun Oyeleke, Yemi Adeosun and Damola Giwa. I had such a nice time delivering a 1 hr talk at this seminar. In my opinion, seated in that room were miracles going somewhere to happen; dynamites going somewhere to explode. They wanted to get hold of the principles we were teaching and go out to practice them. It was really a great gathering.

I was speaking on leading a successful life and breaking free from poverty. I shared a couple of points on how to cure the dreaded disease plaguing our country and the whole of Africa – poverty. I really feel a need to emphasize through this medium, my last point at the seminar. I called it “war again wastage”

One of the reasons why our country (Nigeria) and continent is backward today is wastage! You don’t need to look too much before you see this evil everywhere.

It starts right from the government houses to our streets. We have no respect for savings and budgets. We are a “waster” nation.

Do I need to convince you about this? Compare our budget figures with what we actually spent at the end of the year. You will feel like crying. Typically, only about 10-20% of the funds budgeted gets to where they are used. The rest is lost in transit! Someone must take his part before he signs the appropriation. Do you know how much the last administration supposedly spent on road repairs? Yet, our roads are still in a deplorable state.

There is a story in the holy creed that comes to my mind. It is the story of the prodigal son. He was from a rich home and he had everything he wanted. However, this plague of wastage will not let him rest! He left home rich but spent all he had on riotous living. He is a living example of a waster! No wonder he began to be in want soon after that. A man born in riches ended up feeding swines! Doesn’t that describe the sorry state of our nation? I was already of age when 1 naira was about 1 pound! There was a bloom in our economy with the discovery of oil. Dubai discovered oil at about the same time. If you compare both nations today, it’s like comparing “sleep” and “death”. We are worlds apart! Why? We have leaders and followers who were wasters!

Visit several government parastatals and you will see wastage in high proportion. It starts from time wastage. Something that should take you 1 hour to get can take you a whole week. Have a look at the way government facilities are being used, you will smell waste around. I watched in dismay as the Speaker of the National House of Representative tried to prove her prudence to us in the contract scandal going on. According to her, she has saved Nigeria a lot of money since coming into office because of her prudence. Prudence indeed! No matter the explanation, it takes wastage spirit to spend 628 million naira on the renovation of a residential quarter! Is the house made of gold?! It would have been far cheaper to build a new one.

I was listening to one of my mentors earlier in the week. He was narrating a time in their ministry when the cost of phone bills went above the budget because the people were making unnecessary calls. What did he do? He disconnected all the phones for the next 1 month. He waged a war against wastage. This ministry in one of the leading ministries in Nigeria and indeed in the world. Have you noticed the way people use mobile phones in our nation? People are on phone for several minutes calling a friend just to ask how he is doing. 5 minutes after that, the same person is complaining that the country is tough! Compare this with how the western world manage power supply in their homes, since they are conscious of the bills they have to pay, and you will understand how wasteful we are.What a tragedy!

Do you want to be successful in your personal and business life? I suggest you wage a war against wastage.

No matter how much you try to fill a bucket of water that is leaking, you will not achieve much. The wise thing to do at first is to block or fix the leakage.

Fix the avenues of wastes and in no time, the bucket will be full. Check your finances. Do you have a budget? Are you sticking to your budget or are you eating with all your fingers. Are you just spending without any thought of the future? Don’t be the present day version of the prodigal son

Will you join in the War Against Wastage?

Principles Of A Fulfilled Life

Fulfilled. What a word! Two simple syllable and yet to elusive to our frazzled and restless hearts. Who among you haven’t yearned for something even faintly resembling fulfillment in our frantic demanding “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately” world?

Fulfilled is a great word. The only issue is finding it. You can find several definitions in the dictionary but do you have it in your everyday life? I am sure several people will offer anything in order to have a fulfilled life. Wouldn’t you?

Can I share with you some principles for a fulfilled life? These are principles I got from reading books and listening to tapes, and they’ve helped in a lot in my search for satisfaction and fulfillment

Count Your Blessings

Have you read the article of “Count Your Blessings, Don’t Discount them”? If not, I recommend you take time to read it. Fulfillment has eluded most of us because we have not learnt to be grateful for the little things around us. “But godliness with contentment is great gain” opined a wise writer. Never take things for granted. Be grateful for the things you have and can afford.

Find Joy In The Ordinary

Eternal instants and moments. We’ve all witnessed them though we let them go without finding joy in it. Putting your arms in your husbands’ as you take an evening stroll. Listening to your 6 year old thank God for everything from goldfish to grandma. Never you underestimate the ordinary. They are laden with greatness.

Finish The Race

We live in a world that is only crazy about winning, not about finishing. You don’t have to win always. But you have to finish. Hang in there. Finish. Stick to it until it is done. But unfortunately, very few of us do that. Our human tendency is to stop before we cross the finish line. Our inability to finish what we start is seen in the smallest of things - A partly mowed lawn; a half-read book; letters begun but never completed; an abandoned diet.

Are you close to quitting? Please don’t do it. Are you discouraged as a parent?
Hang in there. Are you weary with doing good? Do just a little more. Are you
pessimistic about your job? Roll up your sleeves and go at it again. No communication
in your marriage? Give it one more shot. Can’t resist temptation? Accept God’s
forgiveness and go one more round. Is your day framed with sorrow and disappointment? Are your tomorrows turning into nevers? Is hope a forgotten word?

Remember, a finisher is not one with no wounds or weariness. Quite to the
contrary, he, like the boxer, is scarred and bloody. He finishes what he starts. He finishes strong. I strongly recommend you read the book “Finishing Strong” by Steve Farrar. I have personally read it more than thrice!

Stay Positive

A positive attitude in invaluable in today’s world. There are a thousand and one things that will not happen the way you want it to happen every single day. How you respond or react to them will go a long way in determining whether you will be fulfilled or frustrated. It is not what happens to you that determined your fulfillment. It is what happens in you, as a result of what happened to you!

All things being equal, having a positive attitude wins. All things not being equal, attitude still sometimes win. I have found out that things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out.

Finally, God wants us to live a fulfilled life. Do you know any other principle that can help? If yes, please share.

Stay on top

Financial Independence - Your Mind or The Bank?

The last two months has been interesting for me as a person. Infact, it has not only being interesting but also mind blowing! I have witnessed a major change in my mind, concerning finance and money matters, that all I see now is possibilities. I have since realized that it doesn’t take time to change a man’s financial status. It takes the right information.

I have come in contact with vital information in the last couple of weeks that is changing my financial situation for the better. In all honesty, I thought I wasn’t doing badly in my finances even before now. I work for a multinational. I earn a fairly good salary (I hope my boss will not read this and delay my salary increase). I have a couple of investments here and there and they are not doing badly. I had plans to make more investments in the nearest future and had been saving for it. So, in my own opinion, I will gain the financial independence I have been craving for in the next 5-10 years. However, with what I have learnt in the last couple of weeks, it will be a crime against progress if I am not financially liberated in the next few months.

While talking to my friend Adeolu Akinyemi yesterday, I told him I had written a short testimony that I will post before the year runs out. It will have this sentence within it “I have made more money in the last 6 months than I have made earning salaries in the last couple of year”. Wouldn’t that be interesting? I am looking forward to that post.

Wait a minute. I am sure you will like to know what I know. It’s not anything new. It’s the power of information. Information is the hub on which every outstanding achievement rides on. Vision without the right information to match will lead to frustration! I remember when I was growing up. I attended a conference where we were been asked to confess financial success. The speaker asked us to write down our financial goals and even put a figure behind it. I wrote the figure “1”with several zeros behind it. Don’t ask me what happened thereafter. I only made that kind of money on paper! I didn’t have the right information then how to transfer the figure on paper to a “spendable” reality. Many people still live in such realms.

It is not difficult to make money. It was much easier for me to make a million naira in a week that it was for me believing that it could be done. Yes, it was. Let me share a powerful truth with you. Financial liberation is not in economic policies. It is not in bank consolidation. It is not in salary increases. It stars with your….thinking! Your mind is the greatest key that will unlock your financial resources. A wise man once said “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he” A man cannot be richer than he is in his mind! Powerful.

The place to start amassing wealth therefore is in your mind. What thoughts about money do you harbour in your mind? Several years ago, while I was growing up, I was taking a stroll one day with a friend. A very nice jeep passed by us. Immediately, my friend hissed and said “Ole” (meaning thief). In his mind, only thieves and armed robbers ride such nice cars! No wonder he has not bought any till date. In my mind, even before he spoke, I said “Wow. What a nice car. This is the kind of car we will soon be driving”. As a man thinks in his heart, so he is. Notice the use of the present tense here. It didn’t say “so he will be”. Your life will automatically move in the direction of your greatest thoughts. Your thoughts determine your actions. Your actions determine your habits.

Your habits determine your character. Your character gives birth to your destiny or your destination.

I believe strongly that God is raising a generation of people who will propagate his kingdom business with their wealth. I want to be part of this people. Do you?

The Law Of Multiple Rewards

Life is governed by laws. These laws are universally binding and have no respect for age, location, religion, nationality or financial status. Whether you throw up a stone in California or in Fiji Island, it will come down!

There is one of life’s great laws that I have particularly found interesting. It is called the law of multiple rewards. It is an extension of the Biblical law that says that if you sow well, you will reap well. However, it has a unique part. Here it is - not only does it suggests that we'll all reap what we've sown, it also suggests that we'll reap much more! No wonder when you plant seeds of maize, you harvest a tree or even a forest of maize. For every disciplined effort, there are multiple rewards.

What a concept! If you render unique service, your reward will be multiplied. If you're fair and honest and patient with others, your reward will be multiplied. If you give more than you expect to receive, your reward is more than you expect. But remember: the key word here, as you might well imagine, is discipline.

Everything of value requires care, attention, and discipline. Our thoughts require discipline. We must consistently determine our inner boundaries and our codes of conduct, or our thoughts will be confused. And if our thoughts are confused, we will become hopelessly lost in the maze of life. Confused thoughts produce confused results.

Remember the law: "For every disciplined effort, there are multiple rewards." Learn the discipline of writing a card or a letter to a friend. Learn the discipline of paying your bills on time, arriving to appointments on time, or using your time more effectively. Learn the discipline of paying attention, or paying your taxes or paying yourself. Learn the discipline of having regular meetings with your associates, or your spouse, or your child, or your parent. Learn the discipline of learning all you can learn, of teaching all you can teach, of reading all you can read.

For each discipline, multiple rewards. For each book, new knowledge. For each success, new ambition. For each challenge, new understanding. For each failure, new determination. Life is like that. Even the bad experiences of life provide their own special contribution. But a word of caution here for those who neglect the need for care and attention to life's disciplines: everything has its price. Everything affects everything else. Neglect discipline, and there will be a price to pay. All things of value can be taken for granted with the passing of time.

That's what we call the Law of Familiarity. Without the discipline of paying constant, daily attention, we take things for granted. Be serious. Life's not a practice session.

If you're often inclined to toss your clothes onto the chair rather than hanging them in the closet, be careful. It could suggest a lack of discipline. And remember, a lack of discipline in the small areas of life can cost you heavily in the more important areas of life. You cannot clean up your company until you learn the discipline of cleaning your own garage. You cannot be impatient with your children and be patient with your distributors or your employees. You cannot inspire others to sell more when that goal is inconsistent with your own conduct. You cannot admonish others to read good books when you don't have a library card.

The most valuable form of discipline is the one that you impose upon yourself. Don't wait for things to deteriorate so drastically that someone else must impose discipline in your life. Wouldn't that be tragic? How could you possibly explain the fact that someone else thought more of you than you thought of yourself? That they forced you to get up early and get out into the marketplace when you would have been content to let success go to someone else who cared more about themselves.

Your life, my life, the life of each one of us is going to serve as either a warning or an example. A warning of the consequences of neglect, self-pity, lack of direction and ambition... or an example of talent put to use, of discipline self-imposed, and of objectives clearly perceived and intensely pursued.

Keep on winning!

Giving Yourself The Best Chance Of A Good Life

I have been a student in the school of success for some time now. It’s been an interesting school. It’s a school that you never graduate from. You keep learning things everyday. There is something I have discovered. I don’t think it will be new to you, but please permit me to at least remind you. Here it is- The greatest and most persistent blockages to your progress in life usually come from a single source—yourself!

In the equation for success and progress in life, you are the most important factor. Let me share with you a few tips that will help you give yourself the best chance of a good life (I picked up most of these tips from books I have read and people I have listened to).

Make the time to work out what’s most important to you.

What’s so important you wouldn’t give it up, save in the most extreme circumstances? What feels like part of your deepest nature? What would really hurt you to have to abandon? All these are core values. The more you satisfy them, the more fulfilling your life will be. Only you can truly decide what a good life is for you. Other people will try to decide for you, but all they’re doing is pointing you towards their values, not your own. You may need to Ignore them.

Bet on continuous, incremental improvements, not sudden breakthroughs.

This is one of the biggest differences between Japanese and American ways of doing business. The Japanese tend to work away steadily at many small improvements, never making too much fuss about finding some huge leap forward. American businesses tend to favor the idea of sudden, dramatic breakthroughs. Breakthroughs are great when they happen, but depending on them is a high-risk strategy. A single breakthrough that fails or doesn’t come on time can set you back to square one. In life, as in business, lots of small steps often take you further than one or two huge leaps.
Spend as much of your time as you can doing things that need to be done.
Don’t worry too much what they are. Don’t worry about the order in which you do them. The old saying, “success breeds success,” is true. Most people spend far too much time thinking about what they’re going to do—then planning it out, allocating set priorities, and further polishing the plan—and far too little time doing things, even if they come in the “wrong” order. Don’t wait. Do at least something of what you need to do now. Then do some more. There’s no simpler or surer way to turn your dreams into tangible results.

Broaden your horizons.

Take an interest in something new. Try to meet different people. Explore something that you think isn’t interesting. Read challenging and stimulating books; that’s one of the very best (and cheapest) ways to spread your mental horizons wider. Travel as much as you to experience other cultures. Spend time with people who think very differently than you do. Dull, narrow-minded, parochial types are some of the most boring people that you can meet. Mostly they have boring, narrow lives and boring, conventional jobs too. Don’t join them.

Try out some unfamiliar options.

If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get the results you’ve always had—or worse, since circumstances change and yesterday’s sure thing is tomorrow’s disaster. Consider fresh possibilities. Let go of your prejudices. Try something unfamiliar. If you don’t like it, stop. At least you’ve learned something. If you do like it, do it some more. If you habitually focus on mostly short-term, practical things, try focusing on something long-term and visionary. Dream a little. If you’re the strategic type, always looking years ahead, try limiting your focus to today—or, better still, to this very moment. Live in the now for a while. See what you can discover.

Whatever the problem or topic is, never assume that you already know all the answers.

Nothing shuts down your mental faculties faster. Once of the very worst aspects of today’s macho styles of management is the way that they continually put pressure on people to be right first time, every time, and as quickly as possible. All that leads to is playing safe and sticking with what is already commonest and most well-known.

In place of every human being’s natural curiosity and love of exploration, we are left with timid, risk-averse people who choose the most obvious answer, even if it’s wrong. I’ve seen it described as “management by in-flight magazine,” which describes it very well. Nobody knows all the answers; nobody gets everything right first time. Anyone who claims to is either a fool or a liar—mostly likely both.

Cultivate an attitude of gratitude.

This is something that most people don’t do well. The live a life filled with complaints every single minute of the day. They complain about the weather, their boss, their customers and coworkers … just about anything! There is nothing that paralyses instincts faster. To progress in life, you need to develop a strong attitude of gratitude. You need to be grateful for small things. A wise man said this “If you are grateful, then you will be greatful”. What a counsel. Learn to count your blessings and not discount them (I recommend strongly that you read an earlier article I wrote on “Count your blessings, don’t discount them”).

You can from here get to anywhere you want to get to. Success is sold in the open market. Let anyone who is willing to pay the price go and buy!

See you at the top!

Take A Break!

Life is hectic and harried, but there are several ways you can jump off the hamster wheel of life to get some much needed respite. You only need to mentally commit to it and you can make it happen. It’s very difficult, especially in this part of the world (Africa) to get a break. It’s like every second is fully packed with activities- and so is every minute, hour, day, month and year. At the end of the day, you are completely burnt out! Do you wish you could slow things down especially in your mind? I wish. I did some studies and came up with a few ideas. May I share it with you?

Restroom Break

I am sure this sounds funny. You may laugh at this idea, but it isn’t called the rest room for nothing. For many of us, our day is a never ending stream of requests for our attention from others. When you find yourself hitting the wall, go take a bathroom break whether you need to go or not. Go into the stall and have a seat, close your eyes, take a deep breath (if it’s safe), and relax. Try putting your hands over your eyes and rubbing your temples. You’ll feel better even though this is a short break. Use the time to think about what you really need to do next instead of just reacting to every request.

Fix an appointment with yourself on a regular basis

I strongly recommend this especially for people who have to attend to several other people in the cause of the day. Fix a 30-60 minutes appointment with yourself on a regular basis (I recommend at least once weekly). Take this time to think about your dreams and what you need to do to make it reality. You could make use of any quiet place – store, library e.t.c

Change your perspective

Sometimes we can’t get our minds off our work, even when we come home from work. So how do you slow down your mind? Many turn to TV to help turn off our minds. But how about doing something totally different? You could: go to an art opening, do some volunteer work, visit a lecture at the local library, go see a live play or live music, or anything else that will help you forget about work for a while, but at the same time open your mind to other ideas instead of turning your brain off the way TV can.

Try a change of location

Another idea for freeing your mind is to go to a place you don’t usually visit. Or go to a place that you do go to frequently, but this time really takes notice of what’s going on around you. For example, a great place to go is simply out in nature - the woods, the beach, the mountains, and the park. As a child how did you feel when you were in these places? Can you notice those things again today as an adult? Go ahead and take some time to enjoy fond memories. Let them take you away from it all. Do the smells, sounds, and scenery of a place talk to you? What do they say? What do they motivate you to do differently going forward?

Take time to play!

Take some time to play some games, sing, or dance with your children or with friends or family. Make it a point to become really engaged. Tell yourself that all your worries and thoughts will still be there when you’re done playing. Commit to letting it all go while you do so. If it’s hard for you to do this, then schedule it with someone with whom you won’t be able to break the date. Have fun for a change. A good warm up is to play some music before to get your fun self moving and grooving and leave your work-a-holic self in the dust!

Get good sleep

At night, there are a couple things you can do to get off the treadmill of life. First be kind to yourself by going to sleep when you’re tired! Find a way to turn off the TV an hour or more before your target bed time. TV is a stimulant, even if you think it helps you fall asleep. Better yet, leave the TV off except for your favorite shows or educational TV. Don’t be afraid to be alone with yourself or alone with your spouse. When the TV is turned off you can begin to think, to unwind the day.

Say a “little” prayer

You will be amazed at what this can do for you. Commit your moments into God’s hand. When you are hard pressed on every side, take a time out to pray. It may not necessarily be long. You may not have time to pray for 10 minutes in your office but I am sure you can afford to do a minute prayer 10 times during the day. Committing your worries to God helps you unwind. It makes you more confident of your future

You deserve a break. So, take it