Minimalism (Pt 1)

Look! A blog entry on time! What are the chances of that?!

Did you know that the average person only retains about 20% of what they hear? And of that 20%, most of it happens in the first 10 minutes of a talk, lecture or sermon. I’m not sure why. Maybe because people are more alert in the beginning. They just walked in, finished talking with their friends, maybe they just finished singing a rousing praise song for the 20th time, because the worship leader happens to like the chorus and doesn’t seem to be the type to ever get tired of things easily. Or maybe it’s because the speaker has started with a funny story, and you were drawn into it, or maybe he told a joke or even a personal story about his life. Maybe the guy uses an overhead projector! Ooh, look at all the pretty shapes, but eventually that novelty wears off as he’s stopped drawing pretty circles, and is resorting to “writing” “words”, which a blackboard is clearly capable of handling. Whatever it is, eventually your body gets comfortable in the seat, and then the speaker goes through a boring patch and your mind starts to wander… about what you should have for lunch, when to drop off the car, who’s turn is it to pick up the kids, where are the kids, oh-my-gosh-did-I-leave-them-in-the-soccer-field!?

Oh sorry. So, where was I… oh yeah, boring. Then once your mind starts to wander, it’s very, very hard to get back on track unless the teacher is throwing something at you, or the class suddenly starts laughing and you’re left wondering what’s so funny, so you spend the rest of the time listening hard, because you hate to miss a good laugh. After your mind wanders, it’s a quick jump-and-hop into that wonderful dreamland where the world is made of cookies and you’re drinking out of a chocolate stream.

Another easy way to get people to stop listening to you, if that is your intent, is to throw them tons of information. It’s kinda like the air and the flame situation. Fire needs oxygen so you pushing air into a small flame will cause it to go higher. Then, somehow you get the idea that if a little air will cause a flame to brighten, then blowing a LOT of air will cause the flame to burst into a blaze! So you blow as hard as you can. Result? You leave yourself dizzy and the flame goes out. It’s the exact same idea with knowledge. Give a student a little knowledge and they absorb it and use it. Blowing gobs and gobs of gobs of hot ai—I mean information won’t ignite the student’s passion, it’ll overwhelm it. And the result? Rather than become as passionate as you are about the life cycle of rocks, they’re seeing if they can stick pencils in the cathedral-style ceiling.

Finally, I think another reason why speakers feel the need to fill up the entire time allotted to them is the whole American philosophy of, best value for the buck. I mean, students pay money expecting to be taught for 50 mins each class. If you really only need 20 minutes, then the students might feel cheated. (Trust me, they won’t). Or sermons. A parishioner spends a good hour getting up early on a Sunday morning, gets dressed, looking very prettily and dolled up, they’re gonna feel cheated if the entire worship service lasts 30 minutes. Right, cause now they only nap for 10 minutes instead of their usual 30.