As a plane touched down and was slowing to a stop at Washington
National, a lone voice came over the loudspeaker: "Whoa, big fella. WHOA!"

One pilot made this weather announcement: "Weather at our destination
is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but they'll try to have them
fixed before we arrive."

"As you exit the plane," a flight attendant said, "please make sure to
gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed
evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or
spouses."

And passengers heard this just as they were to exit the aircraft: "Last
one off the plane must clean it."

To enjoy your work more, it helps to put some play in what you do. But
what if you don't like your work? Can you find something to do you
enjoy?

Authors Doug Hall and David Wecker tell the story of Ken Davis, a man
who found a simple way to enjoy his work (MAKING THE COURAGE CONNECTION;
Fireside Books, 1997). Ken just couldn't find his occupational niche.
He worked at a variety of jobs and disliked them all. While Ken was
working as a door salesman, he noticed that at least half of his customers
had malfunctioning doorbells. And suddenly, Ken's life career became
clear. He opened his own doorbell repair service.

Ken's wife laughed when she first heard his idea. When she realized he
was serious, she cried. Whoever heard of making a living repairing
doorbells? But Ken is making a comfortable living at his unique job, and
he's happier than he's ever been. Ken didn't enjoy what he was doing, so
he is now doing what he enjoys.

"The biggest mistake that you can make is to believe that you are
working for somebody else," Earl Nightingale asserts. "Job security is gone.
The driving force of a career must come from the individual. Remember,
jobs are owned by the company; you own your career!"

No matter where you work, you work for yourself! With a little
creativity and imagination, your work can seem less like drudgery and more like
play. And wouldn't you really rather have it that way?

Some of the following were actual notes taken from patients' medical
records. The physicians' names are not included to protect them from
embarrassment.

1. Discharge status: Alive but without my permission.
2. Healthy-appearing, decrepit 69-year-old male, mentally alert but
forgetful.
3. Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.
4. She is numb from her toes down.
5. While in ER, she was examined, X-rated and sent home.
6. The skin was moist and dry.
7. Occasional, constant, infrequent headaches.
8. Patient was alert and unresponsive.
9. She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life, until
she got a divorce.
10. I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical
therapy.
11. Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.
12. The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.
13. Skin: somewhat pale but present.
14. The pelvic exam will be done later on the floor.
15. Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.

COMPLIMENT MORE; REPRIMAND LESS

Alan Loy McGinnis cites an interesting study in his book THE FRIENDSHIP
FACTOR (Augsburg, 1979). A second-grade teacher complained that her
children were spending too much time standing up and roaming around the
room rather than working.

Two psychologists spent several days at the back of the room with
stopwatches observing the behavior of the children and the teacher. Every
ten seconds they noted how many children were out of their seats. They
counted 360 unseated children throughout each 20-minute period. They also
noted that the teacher said "Sit down!" seven times during the same
period.

The psychologists tried an experiment. The asked the teacher to say
"Sit down!" more often. Then they sat back to see what would happen. Now
she commanded her students to sit down 27.5 times in an average
20-minute period, and now 540 were noted to be out of their seats during the
same average period! Her increased yelling actually made the problem
worse. (When she later backed off to her normal number of reprimands, the
roaming also declined to the exact same number recorded previously in
just two days.)

Then the experimenters tried another tack. They asked the teacher to
refrain from yelling "Sit down!" altogether, and to instead quietly
compliment those children who were seated and working. The result?
Children's roaming decreased by 33%! They exhibited their best behavior when
they were complimented more and reprimanded less.

Eleanor Porter said, "Instead of always harping on a man's faults, tell
him of his virtues. Try to pull him out of his rut of bad habits. Hold
up to him his better self, his real self that can dare and do and win
out."

It works for children and it works for adults. There is immense power
in encouragement -- power to make a real difference!