5 Life Lessons I Learned from My Cat

The picture on the left is my cat, Tuffy.  She’s more fluff than tuff.  Tuffy is the 6th cat my husband I have owned in 30 years of marriage.  We had cats before we had kids.  We thought it would be a good idea to practice parenting on something that if we accidentally killed it, we wouldn’t go to prison!

We actually didn’t learn much about parenting from our cats—but we did learn a few life lessons.

Here are 5 of the top things I’ve learned from my cats:

1. Enjoy eating (go ahead,play with your food)

You can almost feel the electric joy when a cat bats her prey across the floor and flips it into the air, twisting and turning her whole body into one efficient killing machine.  Now–you are not a cat, so I don’t want to see you at McDonald’s  flipping fries into the air,  but it’s OK to have fun eating.

2. Wash often—basic hygiene.  But, again, you are not a cat, so please, use a washcloth and not your tongue.

3. Nap often.  Life is hard and then you nap.  I’m still trying to learn this one!  But my cat inspires me.

4. Keep ‘em guessing.   Alternate between being aloof  and being affectionate (or annoying). One day ignore people; the next day annoy them and play with them when they are busy.  Just kidding, but, variety is the spice of life—change things up now and then

5. Show appreciation.   

Nothing says love quite like a dead bird on the bed.

Of course you are not a cat, but spend some time with a cat and learn a few lessons of your own. 

Watch the video!

 

 

Self-Deprecating Humor: How to Find the Funny in Your Life

Have you ever tried to think of something funny to say and drawn a blank?

Have you ever wanted to incorporate humor into a presentation, but didn’t  know how?

There is a simple tool:  Self-deprecating humor.

Put yourself down to bring the laughter up!

In addition to being funny, self-deprecating humor makes you seem:

 

–more confident–confident enough to point out your faults

–more modest–not a puffed up egomaniac

–more likeable–your failings can make you more relatable

A great resource for developing your own humor is Judy Carter’s book, Stand-Up Comedy: The Book.   I’ve paraphrased and simplified some of the material in the book to give you a 3-step process for developing material that pokes fun at yourself.  I call it the LAF process.

1. Lists–write lists of traits and issues
2. Attitude—add attitude
3. Formulas: Apply some humor formulas

1. Lists

Brainstorm under the following categories.  I’ve bared my soul and listed some of my personal issues.

Negative Personality traits/shortcomings	Unique traits(esp. physical)	Things that make you angry	Things you worry about	Things that frighten you
controlling	2nd degree black belt	Losing things	Forgetting where I parked	Unprotected heights
Too task-oriented		Unaccountable people	Getting fat	Jump scenes In movies
Directionally impaired		Bad traffic when I’m in a rush	Running out of money

2. Attitude

• Rant and rave on a topic without trying to be funny.  I hate . . .
• Then try to take a mocking attitude. I love . . .  or I’m proud of  . . .

3. Formulas (all involve incongruity)

• Exaggeration
• Set up . . . Punch line
• Rule of 3’s  (expected, expected . . . unexpected)
• Use a prop?

Here was my attempt on ranting and adding some humor formulas to my trait of being “directionally impaired” (more politically correct than “directionally disabled”):

I hate getting lost.   I guess I’m directionally disabled.  It’s disability that gets no respect.  There are no special classes in schools for students who can’t find their way to the bathroom.  People make fun of me—“she gets so lost . . .  she can’t find her way out of a paper bag.”

I hate getting lost.  Nobody wants me to be the driver. My children don’t even like going places with me—they don’t buy the “scenic route” line any more.  The last time I told them we were going to the Mall, they ran to their rooms . . . and packed overnight bags.

I hate getting lost.  Now that I have GPS Navigation on my phone, you wouldn’t think it is such a problem.  But I think my GPS is defective—or not very good at math.  Almost every time I take a turn it says “recalculating.”

I hate getting lost.  When I get lost 3 things come to mind:  where am I?  Will I be late? And, I’m sure glad I always have  . . . my overnight bag!

Your turn!  LAF your way to being funny!

More Do’s and Don’ts of Self-Deprecating Humor

“I Hate Small Talk” T-Shirts

Inspired by recent anti-small talk tweets on twitter, I designed a few T-Shirt Concepts.

1.  No Small Talk

2. Death by small talk.

3. Skip the small Talk. Get to the real talk.

4. I hate small talk.

5. Big Talk > Small Talk

6.Small talk,  small mind

Now I think that small talk can lead to big results and big talk, but so many people do it badly that I can understand why people hate it!

The Number One Secret to Captivating Conversations and Memorable Messages

Would you like to be a captivating conversationalist?  Do you want people to remember you and your message?

Whether you are a manager trying to get buy-in from your team, a salesperson trying to make a sale, a teacher explaining a concept to your students, a health care professional trying to get a patient to follow instructions or a parent trying to get a teen to listen, there is one very powerful communication tool that will do all that and more:  a story.

When Grandma Took on Santa Claus

Christmas Eve, 1968. I was 6 years old, and I still believed in Santa Claus.

We had driven all the way from Grand Forks, North Dakota to Pueblo, Colorado, just in time for the Family Christmas Party—my mother’s side of the family, all good Italian Catholics, with lots and lots of children. At the party, Santa was handing out gifts to the children, calling their names one by one. I squeezed my grandmother’s hand as Santa Claus held up the last gift from his sack, my gift I wondered would it be a new doll? A new book?  I couldn’t wait to hear Santa call my name, Diane Williams. With a hearty ho-ho-ho, Santa called out, “Theresa Coffee.”

7 Tips on Using Humor in Conversation

An opponent once accused our 16th President, President Abraham Lincoln, of being two-faced. His response: “If I were two-faced . . . would I be wearing this one?” President Lincoln knew how to use humor to endear himself to his listeners and to disarm his opponents. Humor not only makes us feel better, but it also can serve as a social lubricant, smoothing out our interactions with others.