The Magic of Failure: It’s There If You Look for It

Let’s talk about failure. Ugh. Happy Monday, right? Please bear with me.

Failure has been on my mind lately. Maybe it’s from watching too many NCAA basketball tournament games. Or perhaps it’s a side effect of trying more new things this year. Whatever the reason, I’m trying to view failure as a positive thing. We’ve heard numerous times that failure can be a good motivator and that struggles can better equip us for future challenges. I’ll add that failure can also bring a greater appreciation for success. It doesn’t mean it will be fun though. If you’re facing a set back or made a mistake you can’t seem to undo, I’m hoping this will provide you with encouragement. What if we could find “magic” in failure?

Photo from The Illustrated Disney Song Book. Hal Leonard Publishing/Random House

Walt Disney faced many failures.  We tend to focus on his numerous successes, but his path was not an easy one. In case you haven’t heard the details, here’s an abbreviated list:

• His family lost their farm, and most of their possessions, when Walt was in elementary school.
• His first company, Laugh-O-Grams, went out of business in less than a year.
• Every studio he approached for a directing job when he first moved to California turned him down.
• He lost the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, his first commercially successful character, to his distributor.

Luckily these setbacks don’t tell the whole story. Each time Walt Disney failed, he tried a new approach and accomplished something different, and arguably better, than his original goal.

Image from Walt Disney’s Story Land. Golden Press. Western Publishing Inc.

That’s the thing about failure. It has a way of taking us somewhere we didn’t think we could go, often kicking and screaming.

On the long train ride home after losing the rights to Oswald, Walt Disney, desperate to find another character to replace his company’s lost income, sketched his first draft of Mickey Mouse. Within weeks of arriving home, Walt’s company released Plane Crazy, the first Mickey Mouse cartoon. Crazy is right. As we all know, Mickey Mouse quickly became one of the most recognizable characters in the world. You could argue that if Walt had not lost the rights to Oswald, he may never have had the need to create Mickey. The disappointment of his failure and the strong desire to overcome it, fueled his invention.

Photo from the Illustrated Disney Song Book. Hal Leonard Publishing/Random House

Walt Disney continued taking risks his entire life. He introduced the first cartoon with sound, Steamboat Willie, in 1928 and the first cartoon in full color, Flowers and Trees, in 1932. He also debuted the first full length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. Each of these steps required significant personal and financial risk, as well as the tenacity (audacity?) to overcome his many critics.

At this point you may be thinking, sure, Walt Disney overcame all of these issues because he was extremely talented. He was bound to succeed because of his natural born abilities.

Well, maybe. He was definitely a gifted man, but he still had to take action to reach his dreams. Walt Disney is often quoted as saying “the secret of making dreams come true… can be summarized in four C’s. They are Curiosity, Confidence, Courage and Constancy*…” That’s great news for the rest of us. All of these things can be learned.

I think the magic of failure is being able to look at your current situation, not for what it prevents you from doing, but for what it enables you to do. It’s cliché to say life shuts a door and opens a window, but it’s true. So maybe you didn’t land the job, make the team, hit the mark or close the deal. You’re still you. You’re still talented and unique. What can you do instead? Maybe that roadblock can encourage you to find another way, or a different path entirely. It’s okay to pick a different one or two or twelve.

Please understand I’m not claiming to have all of the answers. In some ways I’m writing this for me as much as for you. It’s just that I truly believe we’re all capable of so much more than what we let ourselves believe. Failure is part of it. It’s what you do next that really counts. You can do it. Add some magic to your world.

*Historical dates and quotes can be drawn from many sources, in this case I referenced Walt Disney Drawn from Imagination by Bill Scollon. 2014