The 5 Great Lessons Walt Disney Taught Us

This is a re-blog from Addicted to Success.  It doesn’t have much, if anything really, to do with travel, but I came across it today when preparing some material for one of my classes.  It is so true that I had to share.

Enjoy!

One of the most successful people that we all know and love is none other than Walt Disney. Walt Disney is the famous voice and creator of Mickey Mouse and the founder of Disneyland. His achievements in the world of animation garnered him multiple awards and international fame.

Walt Disney had humble beginnings; he was not born a success, instead he made his own success.

Here are 5 things that you can learn from one of the most successful entrepreneurs in history.

1. Do What You Love

The first thing that we can learn from Disney as an entrepreneur is his love for drawing. He loves to draw so much that he draws in his spare time and he even draws while working as an artist. He devoted most of his life to his art that he was even willing to work other jobs just to fund his passion.

Just imagine how fun it would be for him to wake up everyday to go to his studio and do what he loves to do. That scenario is a lot more enticing compared to waking up everyday and going to a job that drains the life out of you.

Disney went through a series of odd jobs and even became an ambulance driver in the army during World War I along with his friend Ray Kroc (the man who made McDonalds what it is today); and throughout this journey, Disney found his love for drawing.

2. Take What You Do Seriously

Whenever Walt Disney made his cartoons he always did so with the focus of a lion stalking his prey. He always paid attention to every detail and dealt with things with the utmost care. He never took his art and talent for granted.

Never would you find Walt Disney in his studio just slacking off and procrastinating on his projects; he always took the lead when it came to doing what he loves and he would never put his passion on the back burner.

 

 

 

3. Do It For Others

Whenever Walt Disney created animated shorts back then he never did it just for himself; he never hid his creations from the world, but instead he would always find ways in which he could share his work with others.

He had a lot of comics back in the day and he would always find ways to share it with the public. He joined his school’s publications as a comic artist, and he even took a job in a local newspaper as none other than a comic artist.

Walt Disney’s works teach us a lot of things, such as the value of love for friends and family, hope for the good and his most important lesson: good will always triumph over evil.

 

 

 

4. Never Just Settle With Your First Success

One thing that you would definitely notice about Walt Disney is that after one accomplishment he would immediately start on another project. After finishing his legendary film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves”, Disney immediately went to work on other feature films such as “Bambi”, “Fantasia” and many others.

After creating Mickey Mouse, Disney didn’t stop at just him. Instead he went on and created Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto and many other iconic characters even for today’s generation. He was never content with what he had done because he always wanted to achieve more and grow with his dreams. He also didn’t stop with just one Mickey Mouse design, he kept redesigning his creation so that it would be better every time.

 

 

5. Don’t Let Obstacles Stop You

When Walt Disney first started to work on Snow White, his wife and own brother did all they could to convince him to stop. The Snow White project was even termed as “Disney’s Folly”, and halfway across production he ran out of money to continue the work.

Most people in this situation would just quit and get whatever they can out of what’s left, but for Disney he persevered. He decided to travel around and show clips of the raw film to producers in hopes of them funding his project; in the end this attempt was what saved his studio and allowed him to finish the classic Snow White film.

When Snow White was finally featured it received nothing short of a standing ovation. The success of the film put Disney in the Golden Age of Animation, and allowed him to start on all of his other feature films. He could have cashed in and went his separate ways from the animation world, but his hopes and his dreams where too strong to fold. Walt’s decision to ‘full steam ahead’ is really what allowed him to define a generation with his iconic creations.

There are a lot of other things that you can learn from other successful people, but most likely those things are either the same or at least, they are related. Here are only 5 things that you can learn from Walt Disney. His success has definitely served as an inspiration to a lot of people and even after his death, his legacy still carries on.

Walt Disney Quotes To Live By

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney

“When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.” – Walt Disney

“You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.” – Walt Disney

“If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse.” – Walt Disney

“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” – Walt Disney

“Too many people grow up. That’s the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They don’t remember what it’s like to be 12 years old. They patronize, they treat children as inferiors. Well I won’t do that.” – Walt Disney

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney

 

Article By Chris Racpan | Addicted2Success.com