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Logo of MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching.

Compliments of leodelrosa via Flickr

Is your firm a place that promotes laughter, or does it more resemble lock-down, a space in which people are both scared and unsupportive? Why don’t we hear more laughter within our corporate walls?

You have probably heard the phrase “laughter is the best medicine.’ Norman Cousins (a renowned author and editor), watched funny movies (e.g., Marx, Fields, and Chaplin) in an attempt to self-medicate. Although he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, through a concerted effort he was able to emerge cancer free, and to live for another twenty years. Cousins rationalized that if depression, worry, and negative thinking could result in his condition, then perhaps positive action could bring a reversal. Turn the page…

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Logo of MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching.

Compliments of Laurent Assouad via Flickr

Morgenstern (2009) urges us to fight the tendency to immediately check e-mail first thing in the morning, and instead spend the time “master planning” our day.

It’s important to establish set times (three or four per day) to check e-mail correspondence. Maltz (1960) argues “…while many run-of-the mill executives permit continuous interruptions by phone, intercom, or walk-ins while they are meeting with someone or reviewing important information, the most successful executives I know tolerate no such chaos” (p. 112). Closing your e-mail provider (as opposed to simply minimizing it) will prevent the constant back ground “ding” that alerts you to incoming mail. Turn the page…

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