EFFORT

“Don’t follow your passion; follow your effort." - - -

Mark Cuban

It seems counter to what we were told as children. Following one's passion would lead to success. The idea is that if you are passionate about something, your effort to accomplish it would be an easy.

Following one's passion seems like common sense approach to life.

Anything arousing enthusiasm is supposed to be a good thing. But passion is an emotion.

Effort is a vigorous attempt to accomplish a result.

A good example of this would be a student who wants to be an artist. She loves to draw, color and paint. It comes natural to her. But she does have the will to go out, ambition to make the rounds, or put in the long hours to get employed or meet deadlines in order to make her passion her career.

Effort is not considered an important personal tool. Technology has made productivity easy (you can look up anything on a search engine and cut and paste a report.) Smartphone addiction has made people lazy zombies who can easily waste hours doing mindless things. 

Effort requires concentration, attention to detail and focus. Only experience can drive people to attain excellence in their chosen goals.

 

HOW THINGS CONTINUE TO CHANGE

One aspect of LOST that has had a lasting effect is the digital component to viewing a show. The early internet fan communities that raged, raved, dissected and postulated about their favorite show has spawned the nexus between network broadcasting and digital consumption of entertainment.

When LOST first aired on ABC, it was still "appointment" television. You had to be in front of your television set to see that week's show. There was no on-demand or web streaming the telecast. You could time shift it with your DVR.

Today, unless it is a live event like a sports contest, people are consuming their television programs in various forms, including on demand, streaming or box binge viewing.

And many non-network players are getting into the serial show act.

For example, Amazon has a new digital show called BOSCH. Based on Michael Connelly's best-selling novels, Harry Bosch (LOST's Titus Welliver), an LAPD homicide detective, stands trial for the fatal shooting of a serial murder suspect. A cold case involving the remains of a missing boy forces Bosch to confront his past. As daring recruit Julia Brasher (Annie Wersching) catches his eye, and departmental politics heat up, Bosch will pursue justice at all costs. 

The Amazon series is a digital download. This one features a LOST alum, MIB. Whether his role on LOST will help snag a few of the fractured viewing public is probably unknown.

Keifer Sutherland made an interesting observation while on the British television show. He said when he started, there were 15 studios making 50 movies a year, including small budget ($5-10 million) dramas. But today, there are basically 3 studios making 15 movies a year, all in the big budget, action hero mode. As an actor, he knew the writing was on the wall. So he went into television (which was unusual for film actors to do) in order to play Jack Bauer on Fox's 24. Since then, many film actors have gravitated toward cable channels like HBO and Showtime which began producing their own award winning television series. It would seem with the rise of independent YouTube programs and streaming services looking for new content, event the current cable distribution model will probably be outdated in a decade.

With the fractured audience and more distribution channels, it is more unlikely that any series will last six seasons in production.

GREAT LEADERS

“ A great leader never sets himself above his followers except in carrying responsibilities. ”
— Jules Ormont

Who were the great leaders of LOST?

There is a short list of those who can call leaders.

The Others: Jacob, Widmore, Eloise, Dogen, Horus, Ben, Flocke.
The 815ers: Jack, Sawyer.

Jack was made the de facto leader after the crash because of his medical skills and calm demeanor. Sawyer became the de facto leader when Jack left the island. He also had his followers during the time flash to the 1970s Dharma.

The Others had a longer list of leaders. Jacob was the island leader as his power came from the light source.  The first leaders we saw in ancient times were the unknown Roman ship survivors who Crazy Mother killed off. Widmore and Eloise shared the duties of leadership during the 1950s, but both left the island. Horus was the Dharma leader who made peace with the Others, but was killed off in Ben's purge. Dogen was the leader at the temple. And Flocke (smoke monster) used terror to get the island survivors of both the Others and 815ers to his side (in a means to kill off all the candidates leaving the island unprotected so he could leave).

Locke is not mentioned as a leader because he did not have any followers. Boone was his assistant until his death. Charlie was a hanger-on. Locke did not supervise any rescue with Michael's boat. Locke wanted to be considered a leader, but he fails to meet the definition. He could not get the O6 back to the island until after his own death.

Were any of the leaders mentioned "great?"

If you measure it by great wealth, then Widmore was one.
If you measure it by tyrannical power, then Ben was for a time.
If you measure it by likability, then perhaps Horus tenure as Dharma leader was good.

But none of the 815 survivors could hold a trophy as being the greatest leader of all.
Even the wannabee leaders like Kate, Locke, Sayid or Michael, each had their own flaws, their own  agendas, and their own pitfalls.

PERSONALITY CHART

I created the above diagram to try to chart the main character's emotional path through the series.

On the left side, positive attributes which begin with basic hope, then move up to dreams, love, trust and leadership. On the right side, negative attributes with basic regret, then fears, hate, naivety, to being a follower. A stronger will comes with each level toward the bottom line of being either a leader or a follower (a theme of the series).

I started the chart by simple word association. I began with hope, then quickly worked up the emotional ladder. I then started on the right side with the opposite of hope which I thought would be regret, and then by quick word association got through the series to the opposite of leader.

On the light side, there is a fairly clear progression a person would take in a path to leadership. One would have to have some hope (which is tied to a goal). From that point, one would dream about that goal. One must love what they are after. Then they must trust themselves enough to succeed. And once that trust has been obtained, it can be projected upon others to form leadership.

Likewise, regrets can easily morph into fears. Fears can compound themselves into hate. Hate can cloud judgment to make a person outwardly naive. Being naive means people can take advantage of you. You become a follower.

In the light example, we can take Jack. Jack had hope as a young boy that he would someday impress his father. He dreamed that he would become as successful as this father. He loved medicine and his ability to help other people. His love of his craft led to other people, including patients, trusting his judgment. Such trust can him leadership skills in his OR teams. People looked to him to make the right clinical decisions. Those qualities made him a natural candidate to lead the survivors.

On the flip side, Locke had regrets from an early age. He regretted not having a normal family life as a child. Her feared that he would be unwanted as he was raised by successive foster homes. He began to hate how people perceived him. He hated that he was being directed to the uncool sciences when he wanted to be a popular athlete. His hate made him distrustful of other people. As a result, he bounced from meaningless job to meaningless job. He became withdrawn. He was then quite naive when his father reappeared in his life. So much so, that his kidney was stolen. Because he was so naive about the people around him, he could only be a follower throughout his life. And that realization is something that Locke attempted to rebel against, until he realized that no one would follow him. That dissolved any hope (and all those light side emotional states) of change. He died a bitter and broken man.

But both sides can stumble down a different path. Hope can turn into fears, which could become so strong as to consume one's psyche to love the paranoia and pain. That misguided love of pain can lead to naive isolation, which was the safety net Hurley had at Santa Rosa.

Likewise, regrets can turn into one's dreams. Unfulfilled dreams can quickly turn into hate. Hate can be marshaled into developing a trust with other people who do not factor in your dreams. That trust turns one into a follower, just as Sayid had become during his youth to Iraqi soldier days.

This chart also shows that change can make a difference. False hope can turn into hate, but that strong emotion can be channeled into great leadership qualities, as was the case with Ben and his ascension to leader of the Others.

Likewise, regrets can turn to love and that love can make you follow a special person instead of running away, which is an explanation for Kate becoming Jack's partner in the after life church at the end.