My current boss can be a challenge to work for. He changes his mind frequently, has me work crazy hours, and isn’t always forthcoming with recognition. But I wouldn’t change it for any other job. Why? Because I’m self-employed and my boss is me.
The life of an entrepreneur is challenging. In exchange for the autonomy and excitement of running your own business, you have to deal with heightened levels of uncertainty, responsibility, and stress.
But there’s one skill entrepreneurs can use to manage the ups and downs of running a business: humor. People who use humor in the workplace are more productive, less stressed, and happier, something all entrepreneurs can benefit from.
Here are four ways humor can help entrepreneurs run their business.
1. Humor Combats Stress
One of the biggest challenges that entrepreneurs face is stress. Everything from defining the long-term vision of the company to figuring out which domain names to register can heighten stress in the body.
We know that stress, by itself, isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s how we grow and improve. But chronic stress, stress without rest, is terrible for our bodies and minds. It causes muscle tension in the body, increases blood pressure, and decreases immunity. However, if stress is the villain, then humor is the superhero. Humor relaxes muscles, decreases blood pressure, and improves our immune system.
One of the easiest ways to manage stress, and incorporate humor in your work, is to take scheduled breaks. Not just yearly (vacations), weekly (weekends), or daily (evenings), but also hourly. Taking a few minutes to watch a funny video after a stressful meeting or have a friendly chat after a long brainstorming session can help you manage stress and come back to your work refreshed and engaged.
2. Humor Enhances Problem Solving
As an entrepreneur, you constantly have to solve problems. Whether that is fixing an issue with a customer or figuring out why your wifi keeps dropping (pro-tip: if you’re in an area with lots of competing wifi signals, try changing the channel your wifi is on).
Regardless of the problems you’re solving, humor can help warm up the brain for brainstorming better solutions. Laughing causes the release of serotonin in our brains, which improves focus, objectivity, and overall brainpower, all vital to enhancing creativity.
One way to do that is simply by watching a comedy video before attacking the problem. In one study, students who watched a 30-minute comedy video were nearly 4 times more likely to solve a problem than those who didn’t.
3. Humor Builds Relationships
No matter what your business is, you have to deal with other human beings. From people you hire to the clients you serve, to that one person you see everyday at your local coffeeshop, you interact with people.
Humor can help us build relationships with the people around us, no matter who they are. Humor has been shown to build group cohesiveness, reduce status differentials, diffuse conflict and aid in team and trust building among groups.
Getting to know the people in our work as actual people, and not just resources to do our bidding, is as easy as encouraging them to bring their human to work. Asking about their weekend, participating in engaging team-building activities, and just sharing a laugh can go a long way in strengthening the relationships of the people who you interact with most.
4. Humor Strengthens Leadership
In many ways, entrepreneurship is about leadership–influencing people to join your company, clients to buy your products, or family members to stop asking for things for free. But a leader isn’t a leader if he has no followers (as Derek Sivers helped demonstrate), which means they must act, and be perceived, as a leader.
Humor can help here too; leaders can use humor to build trust and defuse tension. It’s why President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.”
Using humor as a leader isn’t necessarily about being funny, but rather about making the work more fun. By promoting fun as a core way of working, you’ll help people (yourself included) enjoy their work more while also helping them do it better.
Humor for Entrepreneurs
Being an entrepreneur is incredibly challenging but also incredibly rewarding. By using humor, we can manage the stress of entrepreneurship while enhancing our problem-solving, improving our relationships, and strengthening our leadership skills. Oh, and it can help us deal with those challenging bosses we have to put up with everyday: ourselves.
