A lot of us lose life’s tough battles by starting a frontal attack-when a touch of humor might well enable us to win. Consider the case of a young friend of mine who was trapped in a traffic jam on his way to work shortly after receiving a warning about being late for the job. Although there was a good reason for Sam’s a being late-serious illness at home-he decided that this by now-familiar excuse wouldn’t work any longer. His boss was probably already pacing up and down preparing a dismissal speech.

Yes the boss was. Sam entered the office at 9:35. The place was as quiet as a locker room(更衣室); everyone was hard at work. Sam’s boss came up to him. Suddenly Sam smiled and stretched out his hand. “How do you do!” he said. “I’m Sam Maynard. I’m applying for a job which I understand became available just 35 minutes ago. Does the early bird get the worm?”

The room exploded in laughter. However, the boss clamped off a smile and walked back to his office. Sam Maynard had saved his job-with the only tool that could win a laugh.

Humor is a most effective yet frequently neglected means of handling the difficult situations in our lives. It can be used for patching up differences, apologizing, saying “no”, criticizing, getting the other fellow to do what you want without his losing face. For some jobs it’s the only tool that can succeed. It is a way to discuss subjects so sensitive that serious dialogue may start a quarrel. For example, many believe that comedians on television are doing more today for racial and religious tolerance than people in any other field.

Time wasters are real enemies of success. Time wasters could be people, events or habits that lead to the opposite path away from our goals. The most important starting point in removing the time wasters in life is to know about them. We need to sit down and analyze the activities which take our time.

Start by making a list of our activities and sort out the neither urgent nor important ones. Sometimes it could be a simple addiction to a TV Soap Opera, constant distractions, or even one of our core （核心的）activities that we are not excellent at doing. We can, for instance, imagine that we are a business owner and we keep sabotaging our business deals, leading the company into great financial problems. It may be time for us to have our associates do the marketing while we concentrate on the areas we are best in. The next thing would be to make sure that we plan our daily activities. One of the obvious reasons is that we will have an upper hand in fighting against time wasters in our schedule. If what we want to do or what we don’t want to do becomes clear, our focus is strengthened.

Moreover, when we think of people we spend time with, we are sure to notice that some have a more positive impact on our success while others have a negative one. It is important to be able to distinguish them especially with regard to our schedule. While we do not advocate for everyone to throw away relationships, it is good to know that helping a friend who is emotionally disturbed can wait till dinner time. Finally, do the same to our habits. List all the habits and addictions that take any amount of our time. Then, take a little time to straighten them out in line with their importance and urgency.

Depending on our analysis, kill those that are harmful to our goals in life.

As far as I could tell, there was only one problem with this year’s Super Bowl. The Green Bay Packers weren’t green. They were blue. And even though I had never before seen a professional football game live and in living color, I had read enough from my subscription to Sports Illustrated to know that the uniforms worn by the Green Bay Packers were green, not blue.

“Maybe it’s something special they’re doing for the Super Bowl,” my dad suggested.

“The colors aren’t right, Dad,” I complained. “I’m sure of it.”

Eventually, Dad agreed. “I’ll get a repairman tomorrow,” he said. It was a minor annoyance, but it somehow cast a pall over our enjoyment of the pre-game festivities. This was highly anticipated Super Bowl, and we were watching it on our super new color TV. It was supposed to be super.

Just a few minutes before kickoff, my big brother Bud arrived with Craig, a college friend. Craig looked at the TV for a moment. “I think your tint (色调) is off a little,” he said. He reached behind the set and began feeling around for buttons. Suddenly our color TV was black and white. Then he reached behind the TV again. He must have found the right button, because a moment later color was restored. The Green Bay Packers were in their traditional green and gold uniforms. The field was green, the sky was blue and it was Super Sunday, indeed.

It amazed me then — and often has since — what a major difference a minor adjustment can make. A touch of a button from someone who knows what they’re doing can really change something. The same principle holds true in interpersonal matters. While there are some hurts that cannot be easily repaired, it’s amazing how often a simple smile, a kind word, or a gentle touch can change our way of thinking, improve our mood, and make everything seem, you know, super.