Man and Mouse, The "Best-laid Plans," and Persistence

You will not live your Dream, your purpose, or your calling without a plan.  There is no perfect plan, except the plan that gets you going!  You have to start somewhere.  Don't worry about having the "perfect" plan, because plans are always being adjusted and Course Corrected.  The key is to act on the plan, and do this one thing even when it seems the plan isn't working:

Persist

Never give up!  Adjust as you practice your plan.  Remember, your plan is attached to your desire to achieve your Dream.  When you find yourself struggling alongside your friend Discomfort, remember your goal to manifest your Dream.  Persistence is determination.  Your Dream is the force behind desire, discipline and determination.  If you care about your transformation and serving your community and world, you will employ your plan, set the pace by walking, jogging, or running, and adjust as you go.

The Perfect Plan?

            Here is the perfect plan for a multi-billion dollar company that has shaped world culture.  First, create an animation company you must dissolve after a short time and become so broke you have to eat dog food for your meals.  Next, create a mildly successful cartoon character that is a rabbit and lose the rights to it.  Have the artists working for you stolen out from under you by the company owning the rights to the cartoon character.

Next, create another cartoon character that is a mouse and is rejected by MGM Studios for promotion because it would “scare women.”  Then, create an animated film based on the story of the three little pigs only to be rejected for distribution by major film companies.  Next, create an animated film based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  Show the film to college students only to have them walk out half way through the film.  After this, create an animated film based on the children’s story Pinocchio, and lose a million dollars in the first release.

Next, create an animated feature set to classical music and have it fail miserably in the theater upon its release.  During this time go bankrupt and lose millions of dollars.  Then have a feature motion picture entitled Pollyanna fail at the box office.  After all of this, build an amusement park in an orange grove for seventeen million dollars partially funded by reluctant investors.  And when the park opens have it panned by critics in newspapers as doomed to failure.

            Now, doesn’t that sound like the perfect plan to one of the largest media conglomerates in the world?  But that is exactly what Walt Disney did.  Talk about Course Correction!  Disney is easily one of the most influential men of the 20^th Century, but if one were to delve into his biography, he would find Disney suffered bankruptcy, severe depression, and a mental breakdown along the way of his “perfect plan.”

To his credit, and to the blessing of millions, Disney never gave up.  He had a vision, a plan, implementing constant Course Correction, and with desire, determination, and discipline he succeeded with his Dream to fire the imagination of humanity!

A Mouse

            You might be thinking, “I am no Walt Disney.”  Disney said, “I hope that we never lose sight of one thing - that it all began with a mouse.”  Do you know who the mouse was?  Think carefully.  The mouse was. . .Walt Disney.

In his poem, To A Mouse, On Turning Up Her Nest With a Plough, Robert Burns writes, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry,” and it’s true.  Plans do often go awry, but in Walt Disney’s case, the man and the mouse made a decision to plan and plan again, to keep striving toward the Dream.  No one would deny that Walt Disney has left a legacy that continues to grow even after he is gone.  Whenever you feel overwhelmed, discouraged, small, and insignificant, remember Walt Disney. We all feel like a mouse sometimes, and when you feel like giving up, remember the difference between those who live their Dreams and those who don’t: desire, discipline, and determination.