The Quotable Walt Disney – Inspiration To Achieve the Impossible

Of the many things that I admire Walt Disney for, one of them has to be his ability to bring out the best in people merely by speaking.  Walt has some of the best quotes to bring me out of the doldrums and get me moving in the right direction, and I find myself going back to his quotes time and again.  

For example, I had a an incredibly tough problem that I was faced with at work recently.  I was given an impossibly tight deadline to get a very complex project completed.  On top of that, the group I need to work with are famous for not taking responsibility for anything and appointing the blame to everyone else.  My first reaction was to jump into the “woe is me” pool, and begin thinking about just how hard this was going to be.  “Why do I always get all of the tough projects?”, I kept saying over and over.  I simply didn’t know where to begin.  Then it hit me….

No truer words have been spoken.  The more I talked, the deeper the hole I was digging for myself.  Instead of complaining and and over-thinking  why not take the first step to success and start acting!  Soon I had all the right people gathered together, had explained the project to the group, and even got some of them excited at what the project outcome would do for their group!  It is so easy to let yourself get swept away by letting your mind take you down the road where everything always turns out wrong no matter what you do. Down that road, you never succeed.  But when you take the road less traveled and take action, you just never know what you are capable of accomplishing!

Now I have prided myself on always being a kid at heart.  I love toys as much today as I did when I was little.  Seeing a huge room full of candy makes me giddy and I want one of everything!  I love the feeling of learning new things and not thinking that I have seen and done everything there is to see and do.  Kids see the world that way!  I enjoy being goofy just because, and of course I love making my family laugh.  When they laugh, it is as if you can tangibly feel joy!  Truth be told, I do not ever want to grow up!  Here’s what Walt thought on this subject….

 

I couldn’t agree more!  When people grow up and begin taking themselves or their jobs too seriously, they lose the joy that comes along with being a kid.  The way kids see the world, as new and exciting and there just isn’t anything they can’t do, that is the way we should forever view the world ourselves.  Please don’t ever take yourself too seriously.  Open your eyes and see the wonders all around you every day in the things that we have taken for granted.  When you look at a flower, do you realize that there is no other flower exactly like the one your seeing right then?  Ever stopped to think how the translucent color of the blue ocean makes you feel?  Are you as excited to see your family when you get home as the first time you ever returned home to them?  If not, you should be!  Trust me, the world is still as full of wonders as it always was.  We have just been trained not to see them anymore, and it’s time to get them back!

Do you know that if you work hard enough, and dream big enough, you can make your dreams come true?  A little boy from Marceline Missouri had a dream.  This little guy dreamed that one day he was going to change the world by making people believe in magic.  He didn’t quite know how yet, but he would one day and he would never lose sight of that dream.  In fact, that dream was so big and meant so much to him that when anyone told him he couldn’t or shouldn’t do something, that nearly ensured that he would get it done!  

 

This kind of goes hand in hand with not growing up.  It seems to me that the older we get, we totally lose sight of our dreams and we just begin to settle for way less than we ought to.  Why should we stop dreaming big?  Sure people these days love to tell you no – tell you it can’t be done – tell you that its too expensive, to time consuming, no one will let you do it, and worst of all, you don’t deserve it!  No more I say!  Let yourself dream as huge as you possibly can!  Start believing that the things you want are just within your reach and with a little more hard work, you’ll have them!  Never lose sight of the fact that you will need people to help you, which means you should always be willing to help as many other people as you can.  I know that “paying it forward” seems stupid these days and really its just letting people take advantage of you, but the smile you take away and the joy you get by helping others accomplish their dreams comes back to you a million fold.  Walt knew that without people, there would be no reason to make films and theme parks, or anything really.

And finally, this last quote is one of my all time favorites from Walt…

 

At every turn in his life, Walt was told no.  He wanted to join the Army like his brother, but he was turned down because he was too young and too small.  Did that stop him?  Nope, he joined the Reserve Corps as an ambulance driver.  Everyone told Walt that Snow White would flop because no one wants to sit through a feature length animated film.   Walt again did the impossible and not only made the film, but won Oscars for doing so and it was the profits from the film that allowed Walt to go on to build Disneyland.  When technology was not created that Walt needed to create something he wanted to create, well he simply got to work at creating it!  Walt had perfect hearing except when anyone tried to use the word “no”.  But think about just how cool it must have been for Walt to truly accomplish the impossible, not once, but time and time again.  

Many people think Walt was “just blessed” or that “the people around Walt were the ones who did all the work”, and to that, well let’s just say that I don’t buy that for a second.  Walt worked hard for everything he ever did or had.  Of course there were some things he wanted to accomplish that may have had to wait for years before they became a reality, and even some that never did come true, like Walt’s original vision for Epcot.  But more times than not, Walt did accomplish the impossible.

You know, you can do the same, and don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise!  Your dreams are just as big as Walt’s, and you have just as much potential as Walt did as well.  The next time someone tells you that your ideas are dumb or won’t work, just smile and remember Walt’s quote and when you finally do accomplish the impossible, tell em Walt sent you!

Thanks for spending some time with me today.  It is always greatly appreciated!  I hope you have a blessed day, and I truly hope you’ll remember that in order to achieve the impossible you have to take the first step; never lose your childlike vision of the world; and never forget that the impossible is just a dream away!

I’ll see ya real soon!