NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CONVENIENCE STORES CONVENTION
ERNST MORIAL CONVENTION CENTER, NEW ORLEANS, LA. OCTOBER 21-24, 2000

What a sense of humor really is is the ability to access humor and absurdity in the face of adversity, to see the wart on the end of the monster’s nose.

Unrealistic people who are willing to imagine and embrace new ideas, to make change, are the ones who make the difference.

Sometimes we tend to tighten up, bear down and that’s okay when things are tough. But if that’s your only solution: you get tough. Then you get tight and you get brittle. And when you get brittle, something comes along and you break.

Humor is a sense of joy in being alive. No one in this room needs a course in human suffering. Misery, pain and change are given for free. They are lessons you are given. Joy and a sense of humor you do have to cultivate. To have one, you have to overcome.

Your brain does not know the difference between a gun to your head and a threat to your self image. That’s why you say, ’I was so embarrassed, I could die.’

Stay as loose as you possibly can and as creative as you possibly can.

You need to experience and project feeling good.

Laughter is one of the great stress relievers you were born with and you have throughout your life.

Try a couple of simple exercises. Joy and humor is a skill. 1. Stand, breathe and smile and let that turn into the biggest, ugliest, nastiest yawn you’ve ever made, the one only people who have slept next to you have ever seen. 2. Say "eeee" "ah" "bbbb" and "blah, blah." Those are the first four faces you make when you’re born.

You are a part of a community, sometimes the core of a community where people meet and greet every day. You have the opportunity to affect people’s lives on a daily basis.

Overcome your sense of terminal professionalism. Be willing to be as silly as I ask you to be. Making a fool of yourself will not kill you.

The first human social interaction skill we teach a new human being is to laugh and smile. It has to be taught. If it’s that important, how important is it to our ongoing being?

The mark of the winners of the future is fluidity of responsibility. One of the ways to stay fluid is to keep your sense of humor.

Take yourself lightly and your work or challenger seriously.

Humor is not jokes and joke telling. That’s comedy. That’s an art form and it’s difficult to do. It’s a way of seeing, being, and interacting.

You need to learn how to draw a line at the end of the day. You have something you do at the end of the workday that says this is the end of the day and the beginning of the rest of your life. It should be a simple thing you do. Play the nose flute. Wear a hat. Put a sign on the back of your chair that says ’My Job’ and whack it with a wiffle bat. The goal is to render it senseless so it couldn’t follow you home.

Some of us are so problem focused we don’t notice solutions. Get a little notebook and write down the things that are happening, the things you hear that make you feel good. It’s a simple tool and a great way to stay in touch with the things that nourish you and give you hope.

Stay in touch with your ability to feel good.

Think of something joyful and howl about it.