Is playing a couple of April Fool’s jokes a waste of time?
Absolutely not. I actually have it on my calendar so that I remember to play a few jokes on my wife—and maybe some other members of my work and home families.All of us should take some time out of our day on April 1 to play a few harmless jokes that get people to stop, think and then laugh. Even though I spend much of my time in seminars talking about things that save time, April Fool’s Day is an exception. It’s a chance to connect with people—to let them know that they mean more to you than just the work they do or the company interaction you have each day.The world can be a scary place, but a few harmless jokes and plenty of laugher makes it all much better. I read where a few seconds of laughter several times a days can add as much as two days to your life.In my book PerfectTIMING, I explain my PORE method for handling your day. It addresses the four ways to structure your day: Prepare, Operate, Refresh and Evaluate. Prepare means that you are set to go the night before so that you have everything at hand. Operate means you know how to concentrate on your highest priority items and you do it well.Refresh is for you to remind yourself that you must take breaks, get away for lunch and have fun on your days off. Evaluate means that you don’t start your next day without evaluating what went right and wrong the day before. How else can you change and get even better?April Fool’s Day gives you a great chance to do the “Refresh” part of PORE. It gives you a chance to smile, laugh and connect with the people in your life.Of course we should remember not to play any joke that we would not want played on ourselves. There are plenty of ideas if you google April Fool’s Day. That will make it easier.
