| Being Too
Serious Can Drive You Crazy
Are you having fun? Do you get
a thrill from your work? Do you enjoy waking up each morning?
Certain myths about work can
pull you down. "Work is not supposed to be fun."
"You must buckle down and get serious."
Perhaps the biggest myth of
all: "People will think I’m important if I act
seriously." Yet getting serious creates problems: stress,
worry, anxiety, emotional pain, drudgery and failure.
Resolving problems by getting
more serious is like fixing a computer with a hammer. The
harder you try, the worse the problem becomes.
"When life becomes
serious, a man becomes less cause and greater effect. If life
gets really serious, his value drops to practically zero.
Driving a car can become such serious business that one can
wreck the car. Running a business can become so serious as to
make it fail. There is a direct connection between insanity
and seriousness." "It is only when an individual
progresses in life to a point where much seriousness is
attached to things that he begins to have a hard time. The
ancient Italian really knew what he was about when he
considered that the only psychotherapy was laughter."
— L. Ron Hubbard
12 Ways to Lighten Up
Approaching your life with a
non-serious attitude gives you a clearheaded view of
difficulties and the energy to deal with them. Problems are
easier to solve, people are more cooperative and you feel more
relaxed. You probably live longer and more successfully as
well.
Try these techniques until you
find one that lightens you up.
1.
Deliberately turn a molehill into a mountain. Make a big deal
out of a little problem. "I would feel much better if
these papers were stacked exactly like this! Not like that!
Like this! Not this! This!"
2.
Ask yourself, "Is getting serious about this situation
really going to improve it?"
3.
Focusing on the positives. Repeat these questions until you
feel lighter, "What is right about this picture?"
"What else is right?" "What else?"
4.
Consider a complete, major change. Why not go back to school?
Why not move to Idaho? Why not retire for a few years or start
a new career?
5.
Ask yourself, "When I’m on my deathbed, will I be glad
I was so serious about _______?"
6.
A challenging game is much better than no game at all. So
consider losing all aspects of the problem. Examples: You feel
serious about family problems. You ask yourself, "Well,
what if I had no family at all?" You feel serious about
your investments. You ask yourself, "What if I had no
money to invest?"
7.
The size of your problem may match the size of your game. So
get a bigger game. For example, if you get uptight about paper
clips being in the wrong drawer, your game size is tiny.
Double your amount of responsibility. Set some huge goals.
Succeed by thinking much, much bigger.
8.
Stop trying to solve the problem that is making you so
serious. Certain types of problems solve themselves if you
leave them alone. Your problem may be one of those.
9.
Compare what you are doing to other careers. Imagine being a
septic tank drainer or an IRS agent.
10.
Make everyone around you lighten up. You will soon feel more
cheerful.
11.
Look at bizarre solutions. What is the craziest way you could
solve your problem? What solution, if it worked, would make
you laugh out loud?
12.
Act stupid for a minute. Let down your hair. Stop being so
darn important for a while. Be a goof!
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