How Walt Disney Created a Positive Spiral

Though the air be cold and the winter be bitter, let’s continue creating with our shiny computers… (Unless you’re in Australia of course, in which case I’d love to hear some stories of how wonderful the heat is there.)

Where was I?
Ah yes, Creativity.

In the last article, we discussed how beneficial it is to reflect the attitude that the Master Creators hold by being aligned with passion when we create; and how creative output, when produced this way, tends to be much more impactful and relevant. A few days ago, a visual summary of that message, a high-resolution image that can be printed out or used as a desktop wallpaper, was uploaded to the Byteful Gallery. Behold, Walt Disney’s famous words:

“We don’t make movies to make money,
we make money to make more movies.”
~ Walt Disney

So beautiful in its simplicity. So rewarding to contemplate.

I won’t lie to you, it takes a lot of effort to get to that place in your own life, but it’s one of the most worthwhile accomplishments you can ever make.

As I said in the last InspirationEverywhere entry, it’s important that you be patient with yourself and remember that everyone is a work in progress. Along that journey of self-improvement, Disney’s words serve as a useful guide of what it really feels like to be aligned with your passion. You see, what Disney is really describing here is his company’s alignment with three things: what they enjoy doing, what work they feel is important, and what other people enjoy.

Let’s deconstruct that for a minute. If Disney didn’t enjoy what he was doing, he wouldn’t really care about making movies that exemplified timeless lessons. If he didn’t feel that the messages could benefit people, he wouldn’t create movies at all. And if other people didn’t enjoy the movies, he simply wouldn’t have the resources to make more.

A Positive Spiral

Another way to describe being truly aligned with passion is the idea of a positive spiral. If you were doing the work you really loved (work that also fed/clothed you), you’d allow yourself really dive into that work, wouldn’t you? And what would happen to your skill level? You would improve in that work, wouldn’t you? Which means your level of contribution would increase, which would in turn increase the amount of people who benefitted from your work. And this would increase your income, thereby freeing you up more and more to increase the quality of your creative output. This is the positive creative spiral: a place of alignment and congruency with who you truly are.

Today, make it your aim to create a positive spiral in your own life. To help facilitate this process, you can print this poster out and put it somewhere you’ll see it so you can be reminded of his message everyday: Disney Quote – “We don’t make movies to make money…”

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The poster of this quote is in the Byteful Gallery > InspirationEverywhere Motivational Quotes album. Selected Quotes from the gallery are now available on T-shirts and mugs at the Byteful Store. (Specific quotes added upon request.)

Recommended Reading:

1. Create with Passion or DIE
2. It Takes A Long Time to Become Fully You
3. Your Chances of Success
4. Personal Development for Smart People & Travel