Yesterday, our family completed a yearly rite of passage for the Holiday season- the Christmas card picture. For some reason, this year was harder than most. The kids were cranky from a restless night sleep. All of the grandparents were in town which required multiple couplings, and the Alabama-Auburn game was about to kick-off thirty minutes after we were set to start.
About five minutes into the snapping of the camera, I started to think about the calculus of the Christmas picture. My kids are photogenic if they focus on it. So, for each click, I assume that the kids have a 50% chance of getting a decent shot. My wife hardly takes a throw away picture. So, her skill takes her chances for success to around 75%. Now, I draw down the average. If you get me on a good day, about 25% of my pictures are keepers. So, let’s do the math.
For each picture, all five of us have to be “in the zone.” What’s the chance of that?
.5 x .5 x .5 x .75. x .25. That’s right. There’s a 2.34375% chance that any one picture will be suitable for THE shot for our Christmas card.
So, to maximize the chances for success and to recoup the photographer’s fee, we need at least 42.66 shots of each setting. You can go round up to 43.
You get the drill. Now, you can then determine how much time you need to set up each shot.
At the end of the session, I figure we spend about 7.16 minutes in each pose before moving to the next one.
Four poses. 10 minutes between scenes. 68.64 minutes needed for the family Christmas card.
Bottom line… I missed the kick-off of the game.
More importantly, by the end of the day, I realized that I had missed some of the joy of spending time together as a family as I focused on the math rather than the memories of the season.
Whether it be calculating how much to spend of gifts, how long it will take to get to grandmother’s house in a one horse open sleigh, or how many kids are in front of your own to sit on Santa’s lap, I encourage you to bypass the math this season. It’s just a distraction to the magic of this time of year.
By John Tolsma, small business owner and author of 5 Simple Things
About John: John Tolsma is the founder and president of Porch Step, a lifestyle media company developing resources that reinvigorate the values that are important in everyday life. Tolsma also leads Knowledge Launch, an educational media company that creates learning and leadership programs across the globe. A graduate of Duke University, Harvard Law School and the Harvard Business School, Tolsma started his first multi-million dollar company straight out of college.
Tolsma and his wife, Lee Ann, live in Knoxville, Tennessee with their three children. He teaches a large and growing Sunday School class and enjoys his involvement in many civic and community projects.
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