Movies Brought to You in Full ADHD

So I’m sitting with the family on this fine Labor Day (why I didn’t post earlier…sorry guys), and we started talking about TV and movies (you know the usual stuff at family gatherings). Eventually, the conversation ended up on the Bourne Trilogy, and my brother brought up something that my wife and I had talked about before.

“What’s up with the shaky camera?”

I’m not sure who thought the shaky camera was a good idea. I mean, if I want to see a video with a shaky camera, I’ll had the camera over to my dad, and he can record our family gatherings. And I expect that from a home movie.

What I don’t expect to see, is professionals…people paid thousands of dollars to shoot a film, and then purposefully try to make you seasick because they think it makes the movie “seem more real.” Because everyone has a dad that shoots movies with a shaky camera, so that’s what makes it real, right?

Or is it the fact that our attention spans have gotten so out of whack that younger audiences “need” the shaky camera to pay attention. Because after all, if they just had to pay attention to just the dialogue, then they might just loose interest.

So we’ve gotta shoot a movie like my dad was behind the camera, or have crap coming atcha, otherwise, its just not “real” enough for the audience.

Are our attention spans really this bad? How did we get here? Can we ever go back?

If you read this thing, you know that I’m a “take time to take it easy” kind of guy. I can be intense when I work with people, but generally, I encourage people to take time for what’s important. It seems as though in the cases of both the Bourne series and Cloverfield, that the shaky camera did nothing but nauseate the audience.

Advertising tries so hard to get our attention, and then tries to keep it, so it changes the game over and over again.  What results is an oversaturation of advertising to the point where we just don’t care anymore.

So let me ask you this: Are you doing what you intend to do, or are you doing something and getting differet results? We all have the best of intentions, but you know, life is so full of distractions, we can’t possibly get on all of them, can we?

I beg to differ. See we get distracted because we allow ourselves to be distracted (except for those who legitimately have biological ADHD). What is the opposite of distraction? Focus!

So how do we focus?

1. Get clear about what you want. Write a list (I have to at least once a day, and I hate lists), and prioritize what’s important. Yeah, I know, if you’re like me, you don’t want to, but then again, if you don’t want to turn those intentions into reality, keep doing what you’re doing.

2. What can you take action on? Any of it? All of it? What’s the easiest and best course right now? My old life coach told me to put numbers on each side of the list. On the left, scale 1-10 in Time Investment, with 1 being the least amount of time, and 10 being the most amount time. Then on the right, scale 1-10 in Results, using 1 as the least results, and 10 being the most results.

3. Pick the item that takes the least amount of time, and would net you the most results. Take that thing and do it. Don’t get caught up with a bunch of items, just do one. That way you can get the most results, with the least action, and feel dang good about what you just did.

Don’t be the shaky camera. Point your camera at your subject and shoot it so people don’t get sick when they look at what you’ve done.

What do you think? I’m all ears.

A Parent’s Worst Nightmare

Children look to us to make good choices, and help them understand themselves, their feelings, and the purpose in life. It saddens me to see stories like this one surface about an 8 year old boy who shot his father, and a man who rented a room from his father.:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27600105/

The story goes on to say that it is unclear as to whether or not the child was abused. It also states that the murders were pre-meditated. This stands to raise a few questions:

Was it nature or nurture? Was this child sociopathic, or did he feel trapped, with no way out other than to end these lives? If he was not a sociopath, what drove him to do what most adults would have trouble doing? Until we know the truth, I suppose we could speculate all day.

I call this a parent’s worst nightmare, because the idea of raising children is to do your best to ensure that they are safe, but also that they don’t make terrible choices they will live to regret. At least that’s my impression of what raising a healthy child should be.

I would encourage most parents who have a bleak outlook on their child’s future, to think about this case in context with your own child’s life. Remember, you’re still alive, and when compared to this case, that counts for something. It means that as long as you can develop a relationship with your child, perhaps there is hope for them to become happy, healthy and making good choices.

Jim
www.NewHopeCounselingOnline.com