As I’m sitting here enjoying my vacation time on the south coast of Texas, it came to me that one of the things most of need is to have a good balance between time off and focused time. Some of us don’t take enough vacation or time away; some of us take too much. Rarely do we have a good balance but I think that most people tend to have too much seriousness in their lives and not enough enjoyment. I believe laughter is the best medicine in life. Over the years I have gathered a group of favorite movies that make me laugh and that I could watch over and over again. Bill Murray is a man who can have a direct line to your funny bone if you watch some of his early movies. Mike Myers made just a few classics, and a good set of sequels. Every now and then you find a movie that seems to bomb in the theaters but when reaching video or DVD sales it takes off and becomes a cult classic.
Today I’m going to reference two of them to get you laughing. First, let’s take a look at the great work by Mike Judge. I don’t think I know anyone who has seen this movie in theaters, yet we all can reference our boss in it when we mention the name Office Space. The classic reference in the movie is to the “TPS Reports.” How many times have you been given a task at your office or job that you look at each week and go and “Why the heck do we need to do this?” and you close your eyes and think of the boss, Bill Lumbergh, going “Um, yeah” with coffee in hand, then saying, “Could you go ahead and get this done for me?” in his classic monotone voice.
I love how that line, the way Mr. Lumbergh talks, are all so funny because we all can refer to similar experiences. They may not seem funny in our life when they happen but in a movie, we can see the humor of the situation. Take a few minutes today and really laugh at the things that you may find stupid to do or that other people do and you find annoying like that in your life. They are part of every day. Take a minute to laugh about them, make them funny. In my life I always try to laugh more at those mundane things that must be done to make this company of mine run.
Next I want to think about a movie that I find funny, so funny that I have crafted my voicemail message after it. From time to time when you call my office phone you get my voice mail. The next time you call and hear “The Dude is not here. Leave a message.” you are going to think either this guy does not take his life seriously or that I spent the weekend looking for Bunny or out drinking a white Russian thinking I’m in the movie The Big Lebowski. You see, I try to be professional but at times I can’t help but let my funny side out.
So, Dude, it’s time to laugh a little in life, nobody gets out of this thing alive. Yes there are times we need to be professional, we need to be serious about some things in our lives, but lighten up sometimes and make it funny. Last Friday I posted on my personal FaceBook page some funny quotes I found online, thanks to my friend, Robin, who has got this laugh thing down in life. I’m going to leave you with a few of those lines and say “Enjoy the laugh.” I’m headed out to enjoy my last day of vacation and I’ll see you tomorrow.
Life is not about getting to the grave with a good-looking corpse. It’s about coming in late, sliding in sideways and yelling, “Woo-Hoo! What a ride!”
I always give money to the homeless. I get yelled at that they are just gonna buy booze with it. All I can think is, “Oh, like I wasn’t?”
I went horseback riding today and I almost died until the WalMart guy and came out and unplugged it!!
Laugh it up today and find something funny because it’s the best medicine.
I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time for you to live the life you always wanted and to love what you do and those you share life with. Laugh some and be the RockStar in your world.
