Category: Thoughts

When the sum is greater than its parts. That’s collaboration.

I’ve recently been blessed with amazing collaborators. Perhaps they’ve always been available to me, I just hadn’t been ready to tap into that aspect of my business yet.

We’re not always ready. But, we’re likely ready more often than we think we are. Collaborators help get you out of your own way.

So, if you’re stalled, find someone you trust to work with. Open up and expand your thinking.

You might be surprised just how good the deliverables can be.

May 5

I was told this was a heartwarming, well-done movie going in. So, I had high hopes. I’m thrilled to say that it didn’t disappoint.

I was also told to expect tears, which left me really concerned…

So what is Thelma? A ninety-four-year-old widow still lives at home, taking care of everything herself. She has a grandson who seems to dote on her, helping her with computer basics and encouraging her to wear her Life Alert bracelet.

When one day she gets a call from grandson Daniel, saying he’s been in an accident. He’s in jail. The lawyer is going to call to arrange bail.

Now, I’m not sure if you’re familiar with scams and the way they target the elderly, but this was pretty spot on. Sure enough, wasn’t Daniel. Just a young man sounding similar enough, with what he says is “a broken nose”, to fool Thelma into sending $10,000.

Then the scam’s revealed.

Now at this point in the movie, it could be purely an investigative tale of the police going after a scam artist trying to rob little old ladies out of their savings.

But Thelma doesn’t let that lie. She goes after the scammer herself.

Imagine the film RED, but instead of retired special forces, you had a stay-at-home needle-pointer on her own Mission: Impossible.

It. Was. Delightful. She didn’t take the needles. No. She brought a GUN.

Two stolen scooters. Two scooter crashes. Several gunshots, and one pretty decent explosion. Thelma skillfully played by June Squibb, and her partner in crime played marvelously by the late Richard Roundtree. The cast was filled out by Parker Posey, MCU alum Clark Gregg, and grandson Daniel portrayed by Fred Hechinger.

Stay to the end, and see the inspiration behind the movie – Director and Writer Josh Margolin’s actual grandma, Thelma.

At time to tell the women in your life how meaningful they were to your development – either as a child, or in adulthood.

We don’t often respect the sacrifices made by those around us to get to where we are. Or, at least, we don’t convey just what that meant to us.

So let them know.

Today and every day.

It’s easy to try and take on too much. But what can you really get done in a day?

I was recently introduced to the 1-3-5 system of productivity. Each day, you can handle one big thing, three medium things, and five small things.

Do I think this will work for me? Who knows.

But I don think having a system is important. I’m always looking for the one that will let me tame my heinous stack of paperwork, inbox, and random to-dos that seem to accumulate faster than I can even check one off.

Still. Some of us are prone to taking on too much. And it’s important to acknowledge that, and make space for yourself to recover.

You can’t connect with someone if you’re forcing yourself onto them.

Too often, some will try to espouse their many virtues in a first or second meeting. What accolades they believe they’ve accrued over the years. What benefits they provide. How great they are.

The thing is, there are those who will eagerly listen. But they’re likely not the ones to move you to the next step. The ones you want in your corner.

For those people, you have to offer, not take. Have your ears open, and your mouth closed.

Lately, I’ve been coaching a number of creatives. I’m not sure how it happened, but aside from the three or four projects I’m working on, I’m also fostering the creative output of another six or seven people.

While, yes, this is exhausting and does eat up a good chunk of time, creativity is like a bonfire. And if you have an idea, I feel strongly that you should get it out for people to see.

As I’ve said a thousand times over the past two months: writers write. Even if you’re not sure who it’s for, yet.

A great analogy a friend gave me the other day. Most of us go through our days with various levels of anxiety, patience, excitement – all the emotions. Those who suffer from anxiety, my friend told me, are like cars that have bad shock absorbers.

Any small rock in the road can throw the passenger into uncomfortable disarray.

It was an enlightening peek into the mind of someone who suffers from excessive anxiety, and I was grateful to be let in on that.

There’s nothing quite as satisfying as when everything lines up in the perfect way. Projects run seamlessly. Green lights all the way. An easy, satisfying, and enjoyable experience.

To make that consistently occur, you have to mindfully focus your intention. Don’t settle back, and don’t get stuck in your head.

Move forward as a force of nature.

Most of our struggles in life are ones of time. Spending too much time with the things we don’t necessarily want to be doing, while spending too little time with the things we do.

Find balance. Make time. It’s the only path to a fulfilling life.

As I said, I might share some thoughts on films I’ve been seeing. We’ll start with this one from a couple weeks ago when I saw “Abigail” at the AMC Parkway Pointe in Smyrna, GA. Some spoilers ahead, and also, this mentions multiple deaths in a vampire movie, so don’t feel the need to read if that bothers you.

Okay, “Abigail”… Let’s think about this one a bit. You’ve got a criminal empire, run by a shadowy figure. Who also happens to be a vampire. It’s the natural progression of Nicholas Cage’s Dracula in “Renfield”, had he not been successfully stopped. In this film, we wonder if this criminal is Dracula? While it’s never confirmed, one can believe that Lazar, “who has gone by many names”, may in fact be the most famous vampire in history.

And then there’s his daughter, Abigail. The ballerina vampire hitman who loves playing with her food. It comes as no shock that the heist team is being set up – the trailer all but gives that away, along with a number of scares and shocks that I feel would have been better kept secret until actual movie viewing.

But I’m not the one who cut the trailer, am I? The crime syndicate aspect was a good reveal, and there were some decent twists and turns. Giancarlo Esposito gives a rather notable performance.

There’s the typical genre tropes – don’t go up the stairs, but you know they do. Don’t go off alone, but, oh wait… So you can say you’ve seen that before, but it’s cleverly presented, which I think deserves a little grace.

Very early on, you see Barrera’s Joey as the hero, though many indications point to her being a very flawed one. She’s participating in the kidnapping of a little girl, for one. She connects with Abigail, and knowing what we know from previews, we wonder if she’s going to stand up to her team in defense of the vampire girl. 

This wonder is firmly put to rest just after Abigail reveals her true self, and Joey unloads her firearm into the girl at close range.

There’s an overall punk aspect to the film, if that makes sense. I find myself thinking of “The Lost Boys” quite frequently throughout, as well as smatterings of “The Fearless Vampire Killers”. A couple of exploding bodies. One beheading. A partially missing face. Some black spew that I absolutely could have done without. Three and a half stars, closing in on four. Check it out.