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THE ENJOYMENT REPORT Circulation March Enjoyment Report Publishers: Phil & Susan Sorentino
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http://www.humorconsultants.com Humor Consultants, Inc. 2001 ########################################## Always be gracious, you can’t lose, and when you’re not gracious, you can’t win. Phil Sorentino ============================================= Please forward this E-Zine to anyone you know who would benefit from our Customized Enjoyment Performance Systems. ============================================= IN THIS ISSUE ============================================= 1. Self-Motivation: What’s In It For Me? 2. Phil’s “Reading Corner” 3. How To Be An Employer Of Choice 4. Communication Improvement Opportunity 5. Humor Research 6. A tip from humorgolf.com™ 7. Character Flaws These e-zines are taking on a life of their own. The key is to make this a conversation—a written, electronic, “it’s electric slide” conversation, only one of many mediums. Participants are appreciated and needed. This issue starts with the concept of self-motivation. After that, a quick book review of—what else—The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, by Dr. Joseph Murphy. This 1963 book is a manual for understanding your personal operating system. Next, Alicia’s column reminds us we all should be so lucky to have people feel this way about us. In our Humor Research section, the scientific world again recognizes what we have been saying for over twenty years. Golf season is starting and now is when the coaching begins. Lynn Martin offers another tip. Don’t be shy in asking Lynn any questions about your experience with golf. Finally, Dr. T gives us the Cliff Notes version of understanding the relationship between character and humor. Also, we are creating a 20th anniversary gift, and the first version is available now. Here’s the catch—if you get a first version, we’d like you to provide a written critique so the second version will be better. It’s free, so you get to work a little, and you’ll get the second version to see if we applied your ideas. Wow! This enjoyment stuff takes work. That’s right, so enjoy the process. ============================================= 1. Self-Motivation: What’s In It For Me? ============================================= The only motivation is self-motivation. You can’t motivate anybody to do anything. The only thing you can do is motivate yourself, and help others motivate themselves. The quality of your self-motivation is a direct reflection of the quality of the questions you ask yourself. If you want a better life, learn to ask yourself better questions. Use a co-worker as an example. You may ask yourself, “Why can’t I get along with this person?” Your brain will answer, “because he is a loud, obnoxious jerk, and he did something to me six months ago I won’t ever forgive him for.” Learn to ask yourself better questions. Like, “What can I do to get along better with this person?” Realize that he is a loud, obnoxious person, accept him, and forgive him for what he did to you six months ago. If you want a better life, ask yourself better questions. Remember when you were a kid, you were told that if you talk to yourself, you were crazy? Sometimes the reality is that if you don’t talk to yourself, you’re crazy. The toughest thing you’ll ever do is change your own self-talk. Your sub-conscious mind is a fertile garden. This is the mind that makes your heart beat without your having to think, “heart beat – heart beat – you wouldn’t – heart beat – get a lot done – heart beat – if you had to tell – heart beat – your heart to beat.” Your self-talk is planted in your sub-conscience, so be very careful of what you say to yourself and others. By Phil Sorentino, CSP ============================================= 2. Phil’s “Reading Corner” ============================================= The Power of Your Subconscious Mind By Dr. Joseph Murphy I first read this absolutely amazing book in the early 70’s. Now this was before computers. The first video game, Pong, had just come out. This, with Think & Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill and The Greatest Salesman In The World, by Og Mandino, helped transform me when I really needed transformed. Today, I can simply say that this is the manual for your personal operating system. The best thing I can do is give you the first paragraph by Dr. Murphy. “I have seen miracles happen to men and women in all walks of life all over the world. Miracles will happen to you too, when you begin using the magic power of your subconscious mind. This book is designed to teach you that your habitual thinking and imagery mold, fashion, and create your destiny; for as a man thinketh in his subconscious mind, so is he.” Do you have a specific question you would like to ask Phil? You can e-mail him at
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============================================= 3. How To Be An Employer Of Choice ============================================= You wonder – how do you get to be an employer of choice? Yes, the money and benefits are nice, but truly, it is the simple things. It’s the things that cost your company nothing, and the things that maybe take a total of three minutes of your time. Employees want to feel appreciated. I can give a perfect example. After only working with Phil and Susan Sorentino, co-founders of Humor Consultants, Inc., for a month, I received a message on my answering machine at home one weekend afternoon. It was a message from Phil telling me I was doing a great job, thanking me for being there and letting me know that Susan considered me not only an employee but also a friend. I saved that message for weeks and listened to it and let other people listen to it because it truly meant that much to me. I tell this story to everyone who is in upper management, because it was one of many caring things Phil and Susan do for their employees. It is one of the many simple things that more people should do for their employees. Like I said, it is the small things – the things that you don’t have to spend a nickel on. Phil and Susan go out of their way to know more about me. They offer the flexibility to be able to take care of the small inconveniences life sometimes dishes out. I never have to lie and call and say I am sick, or I can’t come in just because I have to do something. I can always be completely honest with them. In return, I have much more respect for them as employers. I want to work on the weekend if I need to, and it makes my job a hundred times better, because I know they truly care about my family and me. Please remember this: Let your employees know they are needed, that they are doing a great job, that you care about them, that you respect them, that you are glad they are there, and thank them and let them know their worth. THIS IS HOW YOU BECOME “AN EMPLOYER OF CHOICE.” By Alicia Norton ============================================= 4. Communication Improvement Opportunity ============================================= The NSA Ohio (the Association for Professional Speakers) presents Communication Mastery II on Saturday, April 21, 2001 at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza in downtown Columbus, Ohio. This day is a team effort by the Association of Ohio’s leading professional speakers. Our very own Phil Sorentino, CSP, will provide the closing keynote address. The day will begin with “The Power of Words,” by Barbara Braham, and will feature presentations on such topics as “Putting Your Whole Brain to Work,” and “Enhancing Content to Dazzle Audiences.” For more information, give us a call at 614/410-6969, or e-mail Susan at
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. ============================================= 5. Humor Research ============================================= Brain’s Humor Center Is Located Reproduced from: The Columbus Dispatch Columbus, Ohio Medical researchers say they’ve located the place in our brains that apparently is used to process jokes and recognize humor. “A small part of the frontal lobes appears critical to our ability to recognize a joke,” said Dr. Dean Shibata, a radiologist at the University of Rochester. Shibata and his colleagues drew this conclusion after studying magnetic-resonance scans that monitored brain activity among volunteers who read jokes, listened to laughter and looked at cartoons. “There have been few studies of humor’s place in the brain,” Shibata said, “but understanding the basis of positive emotions will likely be as helpful as understanding negative ones.” (Phil says, “Duh!”) The researchers reported on their work in Chicago at the recent annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. Do you have a humorous experience in the workplace you would like to share with us? E-mail us at
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. ============================================= 6. A tip from humorgolf.comTM ============================================= Putting Drill: Objective is to create touch.Place coin approximately 20 feet on opposite sides of hole (practice green)Mark spot 18 inches past the hole on each side.Putt three (3) balls from one coin (objective is to hole putt or have it go past the hole but no more than 18 inches).Move to opposite side of the hole with same objective.Set goal to putt 10 balls in a row that go in the hole or stop within 18 inches past the hole (you have excellent touch if you can do this!) ============================================= 7. Character Flaws ============================================= Greater Enjoyment Through CharacterBy Louis A. Tartaglia, M.D. The other day my ten year old asked me to explain how a lie detector test worked. He had heard mention of it on the news that morning. After I gave him the scientific details, he looked over at me and said, “You mean that when you lie, you’re under more stress than when you tell the truth?” He had the whole thing pegged. We are designed to function best when we’re honest. Honesty is the hallmark of good character. We are created to function best with polished character. Life is more fun if you use virtues rather than character flaws. Let me explain by starting with a definition of character from my book Flawless! The Ten Most Common Character Flaws and What You Can Do About Them. Character is the blend of virtues and flaws that your soul wears as it presents itself to the world. It follows that everyone has some virtues and some flaws. Your own personal blend is what your character is made up of. The interesting thing is that the better your character, the easier life is, the more likely you are to succeed on a long term basis and the better you will sleep at night. And have you noticed that people with great character have a delightful sense of humor? But what about those flaws? Can’t they be fun sometimes? Aren’t they more fun than virtues? Certainly the old saying that sin is more fun than sainthood rings true to most of us, at least on a superficial level. Character flaws are real and everybody has them. My favorite is “Addicted to Being Right.” It’s a flaw that is universally found in spouses. Archie Bunker is the prototype. Rush Limbaugh uses it as his “shtick.” Character flaws are what make villains interesting, heroes vulnerable and more human. But character flaws cause stress. They wreck relationships and drive people apart. Yet without learning what your flaws are you can never develop wisdom. What can you do to help you identify your character flaws. 1. Learn what they are and recognize them in yourself. 2. Learn to laugh at your flaws. 3. Practice letting go of the flaw. 4. Look for what you believe gives you the right to have the flaw. 5. Laugh at it again and practice letting go. Learn what they are. Over the next few months, I will provide you with excerpts of Flawless! so you can learn to recognize them. Most people learn to recognize the flaws in others first and then realize which ones they have themselves. Here is the list: 1. Addicted to Being Right 2. Raging Indignation 3. Fixing Blame and Nurturing Resentment 4. The Dread Seekers, Worry and Fear 5. Resisting Reality, Intolerance 6. The Poor Me or Martyr Syndrome 7. Self-Regard Run Riot 8. The Excuse for Everything, Inadequacy 9. Fault Finders, Hypercritical Pessimists 10. The Trap, Chronic Dishonesty Learn to laugh at yourself. Don’t worry when you discover you have a flaw, go easy on yourself. Call a humor consultant and laugh about it. In fact, the better your sense of humor, the easier it is to polish your character. Everybody has clay feet. Not everyone can accept that. You need to get on with character transformation, but do so joyfully. You can’t hate or push a flaw away in anger. That’s using another flaw. You have to love, accept and forgive yourself and have a sense of humor about who you are.
Practice letting go. I could have said just let go, but that isn’t what happens. Most of us have to let go many times before the flaw leaves forever. It’s a process and gets easier as you go along. Look for the belief. Look for what you believe that justifies using the flaw. If you can figure out what you believe gives you the right to fix blame or nurture resentment, then you can take the steps toward accepting responsibility and forgiving. Laugh at it again and practice letting go. You’re human. Keep your sense of humor about you. Life isn’t as serious as the pessimists would have us believe. Practice letting go again. See if you can identify the opposite of the flaw and use it. For instance, chronic dishonesty can be replaced by rigorous honesty. It’s not complicated; it’s simple. Good humor plays on our character flaws. It accentuates them and makes them look ridiculous and funny. If you’ve had Phil Sorentino in for a workshop, then you know how he asks the audience to describe a situation that they found embarrassing. What embarrasses a person is that they have violated their own character in some way. You can recall the stories. They’re funny precisely because they show how flawed we are, and yet, if we laugh at ourselves, we can become wise. The bottom line is that it’s your character. It can be changed, and you can and should have fun in the process. Remember “Character is Destiny,” and if you change your character, you change your destiny. You might as well have a few laughs along the way. For a free (yes, that’s right, FREE) copy of Flawless: The Ten Most Common Character Flaws and What You Can Do About Them audio tapes, or to find out more about Dr. Tartaglia, or the numerous books he has written, contact
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, and we will answer you or get them where they need to go! Humor Consultants, Inc. 83 East Olentangy Street P.O. Box 399 Powell, Ohio 43065 (614) 410-6969, Fax (614) 410-5310 1(800) 896-1990 Mail to:
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