Walk On The Lighter Side With Coworkers
Perhaps the single most effective way to create a positive first impression or establish a connection with people is through humor. Humour can break the ice in an initial meeting, take the edge out of conflict, reduce the stress when things go wrong and put people at ease. Most people appreciate the individual who can lighten the tone of a situation with a few well-placed words.
You Don't Have To Be A Comedian To Embrace Humour
To be that person in the office, you don’t have to be a stand-up comedian or have a repertoire of witty jokes. In fact, you don’t really even have to be funny. All you really need is the willingness to look on the lighter side of things.
If you can make the effort during stressful times to help people forget about their stress – even for a moment – you become a valuable commodity indeed. Even just supporting someone else who’s making that effort is big. A laugh, a smile — even a well-timed eye-roll goes a long way.
There's a Danger in Taking Yourself Too Seriously
Let’s be honest. There are some people out there who are pretty intense – taking things, and themselves, way too seriously. While their passion and focus is admirable, they’re hard to be around for much more than short periods at a time – particularly during stressful situations.
One thing’s for sure, you don’t want to be that person — at least, not if you have any aspirations of building a strong, positive network around you. Should you take your work seriously? Absolutely. Should you take the people around you seriously? Of course. But taking yourself too seriously is a lonely and unproductive path. When you focus too much on yourself, you miss the opportunities and joy that surround you.
Ask Yourself This Question
The next time you catch yourself getting a little too intense, ask yourself this one question:
“Realistically, what is the absolute worst that could happen in the current situation?”
Once you’ve answered that, take a few moments to think about what you would do if that actually happened. Chances are, you’ll be able to figure out a game plan pretty quickly. And, the interesting thing about this exercise is that, if you actually do it, you’ll find that the situation suddenly doesn’t seem quite so bad.
