Unlock Your Creativity

Article By Rashid Kotwal

What do you want out of life? Are you looking for success in business? Do you place a premium on being a successful parent or spouse? Is there an artistic achievement you want to complete - a novel, a painting - yet you're afraid to attempt it because you might fail?

Do you feel your life is frayed at the edges, and you need to find focus?

If you can relate to any of this, you're not alone. We all feel like this at some point or another - or maybe even continuously!

The point is not to stay there.

You can do anything you want with your future. But you need to start making some important decisions right now. You've been given certain talents, abilities and dreams, and now is the time to explore those gifts and begin to discover your mission in life.

Ask yourself…

• What am I good at?

• What abilities and qualities do I possess?

• What abilities and qualities have other people I respect and admire affirmed in my life?

• What am I passionate about?

• If I could do anything - what would I do?

• What is the one thing I could do in life that I could eagerly and joyfully do every day?

If you can't figure out what you're good at and where your talents are - ask a trusted friend or two. And then ACCEPT the compliments!

Walt Disney is an outstanding example of a man who had a vision, took major risks (often flying right in the face of conventional wisdom) and who ultimately triumphed.

As a child, Walt drew happy smiling faces on sunflowers in kindergarten. One story recounts how his teacher gently told him that sunflowers didn't have smiling faces on them. "Mine do", said Walt.

And if you do happen find yourself in Disneyland - notice the sunflowers! They all have smiling faces on them.

One of the Walt's greatest attributes (at least in my opinion) was his ability to go against the crowd and pursue his vision no matter what the obstacles.

The tales of Walt's early struggles are the stuff of legend.

In the depths of the great depression, Walt poured $1.5 million of his own and investors money into the first ever feature length animated cartoon - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Back in the depression, $1.5 million was a vast amount of money to spend on a film (and an animated one to boot) so the pundits all warned that audiences would not come to see a full length feature animated film. If it flopped, Walt would be ruined, both financially and personally.

But they were wrong!

Snow White became the "must see" film of 1937 and is still making money for Disney over 50 years later.

When Walt first conceived the idea of an amusement park even his staff thought he meant a Coney Island Carnival with hotdog stands, Ferris Wheels, roller coasters etc. Most of these parks were dark and dingy affairs.

It took a man of Walt's vision to create Disneyland. And naturally the pundits all thought he was mad then as well!

It's a testimony to Walt's vision, persistence, tenacity and risk taking that his legacy not only lives on, but thrives, since his death in 1966.

So what made Walt the success he was? What was his source of vision and inspiration? What drove him to succeed in the face of massive setbacks?

Walt had "Five Secrets Of Success" that have infused every aspect of the Disney Corporation, making it one of the most successful ventures of its type in the world.

They are:

1. Think "Tomorrow"

Make today's efforts pay off tomorrow! What you do today will affect the rest of your life. Make sure your activities count and move you towards your goals.

2. Free the imagination.

You are capable of more than you can imagine - so imagine the ultimate. So many of you will die with the music still within you. The cemetery is full of unfulfilled ambition. Be bold, be inspired and go for the magic! Obstacles only exist if you don't have your eye firmly on the bigger picture and your vision for the future. If you firmly know where you're going, you'll find a way round, over, under or just through any stumbling blocks.

3. Strive for lasting quality.

"Good enough" never is! Don't you hate it when products have built in obsolescence? Strive for quality and people will keep coming back for more.

4. Have "Stick-to-it-ivity."

Never, never, never give up! Winston Churchill said it best!

5. Have fun.

You're never truly a success until you enjoy what you're doing! Life's too short to do things you don't enjoy. Making money, being creative, spending time alone or with people you love - enjoy it!

And while on the subject of Walt, he used a very specific strategy to go from conceiving the idea to putting it into action. It's been modelled and is called the Disney Creativity Strategy.

And anyone can do it to achieve more success in any field.

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