Sense of humor is a potent weapon in dealing with setbacks

Psychology Today wrote about research into how people cope with stress and failure. One key asset (as people who read this blog regularly probably already know) is a sense of humor:

A sample of 149 students completed daily diary reports for 3 -- 14 days, reporting the most bothersome failure they experienced during the day, what strategies they used to cope with the failure, and how satisfied they felt at the end of the day. Their coping strategies included: using emotional or instrumental support; self-distraction; denial; religion; venting; substance use; self-blame; and behavioral disengagement.

Of these, using social support (both emotional and instrumental), denial, venting, behavioral disengagement, and self-blame coping had negative effects on satisfaction at the end of the day: the more students used these coping strategies in dealing with the day's most bothersome failure, the less satisfied they felt at the end of the day. What's interesting to note is that social support by others was not an effective strategy.

In contrast, positive reframing (i.e. trying to see things in a more positive light, looking for something good in what happened), acceptance and humor coping had positive effects on satisfaction: the more students used these coping strategies in dealing with failures, the more satisfied they felt at the end of the day.

The research (link - PDF) was originally published in the journal with the distinctly unhumorous name "Anxiety, Stress & Coping."

TV ad shows our human frailties

This commercial from Liberty Mutual Insurance, featured in the 2012 Olympic coverage, seemed appropriate to repost here :)



"Humans. We mean well, but we're imperfect creatures living in a beautifully imperfect world.... It's amazing we've made it this far."

Chief Learning Officer Magazine discusses learning from mistakes

A friend pointed out a nice article on learning from mistakes in Chief Learning Officer Magazine. Here's my favorite quote from the article:

Because mistakes are common — and we know that mistakes can prevent companies from reaching their goals — then companies should ask themselves, “How do we foster an environment where mistakes become a competitive advantage?” They can become advantageous when they’re expected, encouraged and unique, and when we learn from them, self-identify them and can laugh at them.

Self-identification is a critical point here. If an error or mistake or impending failure can be identified quickly, its damage can be limited. If, instead, an organization teaches its employees to paper over mistakes, not report them, or deny they exist - they can spin out of control, interact with other mistakes, and morph into disasters.

Think about that.

[Also, if you come across a helpful mistake story or perceptive analysis of mistake learning, please share it. Email me at mistakebank (at) caddellinsightgroup (dot) com or leave a comment right here.]