How To Change Your Life By Getting Rid Of Your "In Spite Of's"

Are you familiar with Rube Goldberg (1883-1970)? Rube was a cartoonist known for his crazy, complicated contraptions that performed the simplest tasks in the most ludicrously complex ways. His name has become an adjective describing the accomplishment of something simple through very complex means. More on Rube Goldberg in a moment...


Seriousness is a Rube Goldberg, by the way. Seriousness is an obtuse, time consuming, and supremely complex way to achieve things in your professional and personal life that would be done with less effort, greater effectiveness, and more aplomb using the natural medicine of humor. Allow me to elaborate


Using the natural medicine of humor to be healthier and more successful involves tapping into a ready and preexisting reservoir which is already abundantly present in your personal chemistry. That is the good news. But we must not underestimate the fact that using the natural medicine of humor also involves unlearning and divorcing ourselves from some deeply ingrained societal norms and teachings. Don't ever take for granted, no matter how well my Fun Factor prescription is working for you, that your commitment to fun will always be your innate, first choice when push comes to shove.


From your youngest days you have been taught that responsible and productive activity must be accompanied by seriousness. "Wipe that smile off your face," you were told - along with that old standby, "You think that's funny? I'll show you what's funny!" We have been indoctrinated, by well-intentioned people, that lightness, fun, and humor need to be relegated to our recreational time. The result of these incorrect teachings? An epidemic of seriousness in our nation, resulting in the largest number of stress symptoms and stress-related illnesses our medical community has ever seen.


Marshall Goldsmith, a preeminent executive coach and the founding director of the Alliance for Strategic Leadership, made some very cogent points recently that have great ramifications for you in this regard. Successful people like you, he said, are successful because you are doing a lot of things right (like using the natural medicine of humor). But successful people, he continued, are also successful in spite of some incorrect behavior that they hang on to (like getting serious).


You've undoubtedly adopted many behaviors from my Fun Factor prescription which have helped you create a personal and professional life more in line with your dreams and aspirations. But, because you have been as indoctrinated with societal beliefs mandating seriousness as the rest of us, you also carry some incorrect habits that you're succeeding in spite of. Identifying your "in spite of" habits can provide an incredible boost to your efforts to change your life with the natural medicine of humor.


Take a moment to think about how you're employing (and not employing) humor and fun in your life. Take time, right now, to create two lists:

1. How do you use humor to help you achieve successful personal and professional
   results?



2. In what ways, and when, are you still superstitiously clinging to getting serious?

The first list you created is a list of behaviors you're succeeding because of. The second list shows you behaviors you're succeeding in spite of. Do you want a simple and powerful way to make quick and impactful changes in your personal and professional life? All you have to do is increase the behaviors on your first list and decrease the behaviors on your second!


And do you want a simple and powerful way to fill your first list to bursting and shrink your second list to almost nonexistent? Just make sure you use my Fun Factor prescription to supercharge your work, family, and personal life today!


Rube Goldberg published nearly 50,000 cartoons in his 72 years of work and he had a profound effect on American comedy. As biographer Peter Marzio wrote, "For Americans, complex machinery has been ever present and ever growing, but few Americans until the arrival of Rube Goldberg saw it as a subject for comedy." Do yourself a favor and check out Rube Goldberg!


But, while you're enjoying the cartoons of Rube Goldberg, make sure you get rid of the "Rube Goldberg" in your life - seriousness. Use my Fun Factor prescription and the information on my website to make your personal and professional efforts simpler and more effective.


Cliff Kuhn, M.D.
The Laugh Doctor

The Natural Medicine of Humor
"Discover a unique, FREE, and incredibly powerful prescription created out of desperation by a (formerly) stressed-out Kentucky psychiatrist"

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