This Month's Offering Comes from my Keynote: 

“Get Out of Bed and Go to Work!”

“I’m No Epidemiologist...”

(but I do understand cause and effect;

and “attitude” is contagious! )

According to a recent study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Healthcare workers (and others who provide personal services) are among the most depressing career paths to travel.

Fields like “Architecture” and “Maintenance and Repairs” are among the least depressing.   Now, I’m no Epidemiologist (remember this phrase for later) but even I can see the cause-and-effect correlation here.  It seems to me we have found a “lefty loosey, righty tighty” guideline here for turning on the feel-good Endorphin faucets in the brain.  Turns out the “helping people” analogy for caregivers is no where near as rewarding as the “Bob-the-Builder” motivation to create or fix something.  No wonder kids drop the baby dolls and kitchenettes whenever an Erector-Sets or Legos come into the room!

What practical lessons can we learn from this?  Well quite a lot actually...

Now, keep in mind that I speak to all industries and settings but Healthcare is/was my home so this study resonated with me.  Please recall my “elevator pitch”  shared in past newsletters describing my services--  “I provide Mood Therapy to the Masses by speaking to individuals while ‘EnterTraining’ large groups.”  I speak about serious subjects on Leadership but in a humorous way; I address depression without saying the word!  Keep this study (and my services) in mind as we soon will “Spring!” into the season of recognition for your front-line “most likely to be depressed” co-workers.

Here’s the Spring lineup:   Social Work Month in March; April brings Humor Month and the Tax deadline (tell me our nation has no sense of humor!); National Hospital and Nursing Home Week are both in May as is Nurses Week; Career Nurse Assistants Day is in June (why do some groups get a month and others a week or a day?).   My “Get Out of Bed and Go to Work!” programs are perfect “feel good” events for any/all of these recognition opportunities.  Keep in mind that my programs offer the hidden benefit of “speaking to individuals” who may be silently suffering while in the presence of larger groups.

A “Life on Purpose!”

Please forgive me a moment’s diversion to speak about a friend of mine and his “Life on Purpose!” (see: Reading Recommendations).  My friend Jeff Caldwell is perhaps America’s funniest touring comedian.  “This guy’s incredible!” says Dennis Miller; he is “funny and smart” according to George Carlin.  More importantly, Jeff is a friend of mine from my old stand-up comedy days in the mid-1980’s; he is also a perfect example of living a “Life on Purpose!”  

In 1986 Jeff and I were both doing stand-up; Jeff continued to pursue his dreams (as a career) and I went on to pursue a career (not a dream).  Now, this is not about me (I’m fine now thank you!); but it is about finding and pursuing your purpose in life.  Jeff has never heard the term “Life on Purpose!” but he has lived such a life in constant pursuit of his dreams; (and, as he would say-- a paycheck!)  Jeff left a budding career as a Civil Engineer (no academic slouch; he was a PhD candidate at Johns Hopkins University when he decided to pursue his dream of comedy full time).  I am sure it was not always easy (touring comedians, even perhaps “America’s Best” do not make a lot of money—this is a source of much of Jeff’s humor:  “I was the victim of identity theft and my credit score went UP 100 points!)  But he followed his chosen path and did it with integrity and purpose:  Jeff is entirely G-rated; his act is so clean you could take your children to a show.

After two decades of stand-up comedy he is now getting his rewards.  In the past year he has made appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman (twice) and The Late-Late Show with Craig Ferguson.  Jeff continues to Tour and has also begun offering his services to the corporate World for conferences and banquets in between the occasional National TV appearance…

As you know I have never asked anyone to buy anything in my newsletter so I will offer you a free sampling of Jeff’s talents via his Late Show with David Letterman appearance:  

 If you are interested in hearing more of Jeff Caldwell’s comedy follow this link to purchase his CD “I’m No Epidemiologist” (see my point!?) at CD Baby  

As I build my speaking and consulting career in continual pursuit of my own “Life on Purpose!” my path once again crossed with Jeff.  Just as I was digesting, adopting and considering recommending Dr. Brad Swift’s book “Life on Purpose!” in my Reading Recommendations Jeff invited me to his New Years Eve show in Washington D.C. at The Improv where he was Headlining and he reminded me what a “Life on Purpose!” looked like.

I am very proud of you Jeff! (and thank you for telling my friends at The Washington D.C. Improv last week that I was “a great comic back in the day!”)

So much for the integrity thing… twenty years of hard work undone by one lie!

Back to the practical lessons of the SAMHSA study… What have we learned?  Again, as Jeff Caldwell would say, “I’m no Epidemiologist…” but people enjoy the opportunity to participate in the creative process and it is infectious! This is a great opportunity to involve them in solving problems and creating an environment of positive Workplace Culture Change. 

Allow your front-liners the rare opportunity to “fix” what is wrong in their own workplace.  Invite them to a “build to suit” exercise to help “create” or “design” practical solutions for the issues or concerns you face in your own worksite.  Get hokey about it (we all act like we hate hokey-ness but secretly we all love it!  It is an invitation to be silly and childlike).  Give everyone in the brain storming session a plastic hard hat (that must be worn on the “Construction Site”) and a “tool box” filled with toy plastic hammers and saws.  Serve lunch in a Bob-the-Builder lunch box. Or if you have a bit more money buy them an old-school black lunch pail and thermos.  Slap a company logo on the side and allow them to keep it (some of them will start bringing their lunch in it every day!  It will become a coveted possession and rite of passage).   Encourage wacky solutions, comments and suggestions.  Have fun!   

Folks on the front line know the issues better than those in the Ivory tower anyway.  I promise you; the extra time taken to involve them in problem solving will pay dividends well beyond (and even in the absence of) finding a solution to the issue you are working on.  You will get the benefit of improving morale through engaged participation even if you never resolve the issue at hand.

Ironically, the study lists one of the professions least likely to lead into depression as “Civil Engineering”.  Hey Jeff, if you ever get tired of making TV appearances and want to do something just for fun; break out the old slide rule and start designing a bridge.

Meanwhile, as the rest of you “Spring” into the coming recognition season and need someone for your event to energize, nurture and educate, (i.e. “EnterTrain”) your team keep me in mind.  If your goals are more simply along the lines of good clean fun I think I can prescribe a remedy for your condition.

>> Take two aspirin and call Jeff Caldwell in the morning.  But then again… “I’m No Epidemiologist!”