Remembering Walt

It is funny how birthdays effect people - both their own and those of others. When it is your own birthday, it is usually a time for reflection, goal setting, etc. When it is the birthday of someone else, it can also provide you with opportunities to have the same type of self reflection. I love looking at the newspaper in the "Born Today" section to find out whose birthday it is. . . . Well, nowadays, I do that through an App on my iPhone, but you get the idea. I do that, and see how people on the list made enough of a mark, or impact, to make the list. Sometimes that mark is great, and sometimes it is trivial (actress, actor, who starred in ___)

Today's birthday is one that I keep on my own personal calendar, as I do my relatives and friends. It is the birthday of Walter Elias Disney, who would have been 110 years old today. Next week he will have been dead for 45 years - longer than I have been on this Earth, and he is still a household name.

A picture of him hangs on the wall of my office, and from time to time, I will look at him and the others on my wall and ask "What would they have done?" More times than not, the answer to the question posed towards Mr. Disney would come back with the answer - Whatever HE wanted to do.. . . .Whatever HE thought was best. A valuable lesson and reminder to those of us who struggle with those we come in contact with who are afraid of change, afraid of taking risks, and afraid of being different.

Volumes have been written about Mr. Disney, and I could probably fill several hard drives with what I have read and studied about him and how his life has impacted my decision own making process. Instead of leaving you with my usual long-winded dissertation on the values of "Living like Disney, Edison, Rogers, Henson, Hershey and now Jobs" (Those hanging on my wall of dead advisors. . .LOL), I am going to leave you with only one thing to think about.

Live today like Walt would have - Making decisions for YOUR reasons, not the fear and so-called logic of others. When all is said and done, you will be happier "Winning" or "Losing" doing it your way, rather than because someone else said it was how it should be done. As a matter of fact, living that way, you never "Lose" you just learn a lesson from not being successful.

If we are not successful one day, on our own terms, then we are more apt to get up tomorrow and jump right back in the fray. We will recover from the "loss" knowing we learned from it.

A perfect quote (well, really paraphrase) from Mr. Disney, demonstrating this idea, was placed at the end of the movie Meet the Robinsons. It best demonstrates how Mr. Disney has taught me to deal with not being unsuccessful from time to time. I hope it helps you too.

“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

–Walt Disney

Thanks for visiting

Peace,

Randy

P.S. - It is also Little Richard's Birthday, another pioneer, just not on the wall. . . .LOL