An Interview with Jim Miller
InSight: Where did the idea for 1-Minute Inspirations come from?
Jim: Early last year I worked with focus groups to test the idea of developing short videos to support and encourage healthcare professionals in their daily work. I created three prototype videos, each between three and five minutes long, and asked people to respond to what they saw and heard.
InSight: And their feedback?
Jim: While this response was not universal, consensus seemed to be “the shorter, the better.” I commonly heard, “We healthcare professionals definitely need encouragement and inspiration but we’re so busy, we cannot take much time to view these.” I remember one man said, “These need to be really short: one minute, no longer.”
InSight: And you said?
Jim: I didn’t say anything. I nodded my head and wrote the comment in my notebook. But I thought to myself, “That’s impossible! 60 seconds to develop a meaningful, useful, inspirational thought? No way!”
InSight: So what led to your developing these Inspirations after all?
Jim: It was several weeks before I opened to the idea. One influence was the realization that most of us experience many complete one-minute messages many times a day. They’re called TV ads. If others can communicate that succinctly, why not I?
InSight: What has been your experience in creating these?
Jim: It’s hard to do! I usually begin with, or include, a quotation from the ages. Normally I write my own additional words as I expand upon the basic idea. But sometimes I don’t use any more words at all—just music and photography.
InSight: And you’re able to keep it to one minute?
Jim: I don’t count the introductory titles or the ending credits, which can account for twenty or thirty seconds. But, yes, the music I choose lasts exactly sixty seconds and that’s the timeframe I work within. Every word counts. So does every image, every dissolve between images.
InSight: Where do the ideas for your themes come from?
Jim: I wish I could tell you. Sometimes I look through my quotation files. I have tens of thousands of them, all on 4 x 6 cards, organized around hundreds of subjects. Sometimes I come across a meaningful idea in a book or magazine. Sometimes a thought jumps out when a person is talking to me. Every once in a while a thought comes from nowhere, seemingly, as I lie in bed at night or as I awaken from a dream.
InSight: Completing one a week seems like a task. Is it?
Jim: Back when I was in the ministry and had to deliver a new sermon every week, I used to say that I was surprised how many weeks of the year had Sundays in them. These days I say that I am surprised how many weeks have Wednesdays in them. But so far, three months into this experiment, I’ve not missed a deadline. When I began, I thought I could do each one in two or three hours’ time. Even now that I have developed a rhythm to this work, it still takes more like eight or ten hours on average to complete each one.
InSight: How long will you carry on?
Jim: I’ve committed myself to doing these for one full year. After that I’ll evaluate. Are they of value? Do many people use them? Am I continuing to enjoy the creative process? Somehow it will all become clear.
InSight: Can people purchase these Inspirations?
Jim: I’ve been surprised when people have asked that question. No, they’re not for sale. They’re free. But perhaps someday I’ll release them in a high quality format as a DVD. Once again, somehow it will all become clear.
These questions appear at the top of Willowgreen’s newest website: 1-Minute Inspirations.
