Embrace Failure Until You Succeed

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." (Thomas Edison)

• Einstein's teachers said he would "never amount to anything."
• Scientist John Gurdon was told by a teacher that it would be "ridiculous" for him to go into science.
• J. K. Rowling received 12 rejections for her Harry Potter manuscript before it was accepted.
• Basketball legend Michael Jordan was cut from his high school varsity basketball team.
• Walt Disney was fired from his job at the Kansas City Star due to "lack of creativity".
• The inventor of the Xerox (photocopier) machine was rejected 20 times.
• Peanuts creator Charles Schulz's cartoons were all rejected by his high school yearbook.
• Thomas Edison failed at least 1000 times when creating inventions.
• Colonel Sanders was rejected dozens of times for his fried chicken recipe.  He didn't sell one franchise until the age of 65 when he was on Social Security.
• Fred Astaire was told:  "Can't sing.  Can't act.  Balding.  Can dance a little."  

If any one of these individuals had given up on their goals after failing, we wouldn't recognize their names today.  Too many people see failure as completely bad.  But failure is part of the process.  It's something we encounter on the road to success.    

It's all about perspective.  I have blogged a lot about authors and how they were finally discovered.  One author, rather than seeing her rejection letters as embarrassing, rather than seeing them as something to throw out, saves them all in a manila enveloppe marked "Tickets to the Game".  While she might not have a "yes" yet, she is still much further ahead than the author who doesn't stick her neck out at all.  At least she's in the game (http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2014/11/tickets-to-game.html).

The concept works in the field of science as well.  When Thomas Edison finally invented the lightbulb, someone asked him how he felt about failing 1000 times.  His response was:  "I never failed 1000 times.  The light bulb was an invention with 1000 steps."  Edison didn't apologize for his many failures.  He didn't make excuses.  He simply refused to give up.  He learned from his mistakes. "Failure is one of life's greatest teachers" (http://www.success.com/article/why-failure-is-good-for-success).

Look at the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union.  Sadly, Apollo 1 never made it off the launch pad and its crew died in a deadly fire.  Apollo 13 made it out into space but as it approached the moon it had a major mechanical failure and had to circle the moon and return home.  But Apollo 11 did reach the moon, making the Americans the winners of the Space Race, and later of the Cold War.  The Space program involved great risk, but it also reaped great rewards.

Author John Maxwell wrote Failing Forward:  Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones to Success (https://www.amazon.ca/Failing-Forward-Turning-Mistakes-Stepping/dp/1491513136).  He reminds his readers that "great success depends on great risk".  He recommends to his readers to "confidently look the prospect of failure in the eye...to stop failing backwards and start failing forwards."  While society doesn't reward defeat, it does recognize those who turned their mistakes into stepping stones to success, like an author and her rejection slips or Thomas Edison and his lightbulb or the Space Race and its rockets.

Don't shy away from failure.  Embrace it...until you succeed.

http://pics-about-space.com/nasa-failures-and-successes?p=1

Vernher Von Braun Writes Letter to Rocket Boy

"The first time I every saw Verhner Von Braun was on a black and white television set in my living room in Coalwood, West Virginia, the mining town where I was raised.  He was on the Disneyland show and he was talking with Walt Disney about the possibility of rockets going into space." 

(Homer Hickam Jr.)

It was in 1957 that "Rocket Boy" Homer Hickam first saw the satellite Sputnik arc across the ink- stained October sky, a sight that led to the dream of going to the moon.  But Homer's dream would not be realized as easily as he thought.  His father, the head miner in the town of Coalwood, Virginia, thought that his son should spend his time in the mine shaft, not building rockets that blew up his wife's rose garden fence.  Homer Hickam Sr. was not alone:  most of Coalwood thought the same way http://blog.al.com/huntsville-times-business/2012/03/homer_hickam_wernher_von_braun.html.

It would take a fellow dreamer to launch Homer's dream.  The Rocket Boy's mother spent her spare time painting a mural of Myrtle Beach on their kitchen wall, hoping to trade the black dust of Coalwood for the sea spray of the Atlantic.  When she discovered that her youngest son, Homer, wanted to build rockets for a living, she wrote a letter to his hero, Vernher Von Braun.  

Homer was shocked when he received a letter from the German rocket scientist.  Included with the letter was a photograph autographed by Von Braun.  It was all the inspiration that Homer needed. With the image of the photograph in his head, and the encouragement of his teacher Miss Riley, Homer made a rocket for the state science fair and won.  He brought the same rocket to the national science fair -- and captured first prize again.  

The same boy who blew up his mother's rose garden fence would go on to put a man on the moon only 12 years later as part of the NASA space program.  Hickam just missed meeting his hero, Von Braun, at the national science fair.  The rocket scientist did see Homer's rockets on display and reportedly said that they were "some of the best rockets he'd seen this side of Cape Canaveral".  

For more information:

1.  Read my post  http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2011/10/october-sky.html.
2.  Watch the movie October Sky (1999).
3.  Read Rocket Boys (1998) by Homer Hickam.

Vernher Von Braun talking to Walt Disney about launching rockets into space on the "Man in Space" episode circa 1950's courtesy http://familypedia.wikia.com/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun_(1912-1977).

Carving a Magic Kingdom out of Florida Swampland

JFK in Dallas, Texas circa 1963 courtesy newsbusters.org.

It took 9000 construction workers, cost $400 million and eight years to build.  Today, over 52 million tourists visit Disney World each year, the busiest amusement park in the world.

On November 22, 1963, while President Kennedy travelled that fatal motorcade route through the streets of Dallas, Texas, Walt Disney was flying in an airplane above central Florida, mapping out a location for his new amusement park.  I have often wondered why he didn't choose a location in southern Florida, where the temperatures are warm even in the winter time.  But southern Florida was likely too pricey and too developped.  There would be no room for expansion as was the problem in Anaheim, the location of Disneyland.  Walt Disney's official explanation was that Orlando was located near Interstate 4 and Sunshine Parkway, making it easily accessible by car to people all over the state.

Why did Walt choose the east coast?  Surveys had shown that only 2 % of visitors to Disneyland hailed from east of the Mississippi River.  Therefore, there was no question that the new park would be located in the eastern United States.  Walt had briefly considered Niagara Falls, but its frigid winters would have prevented his park from being open year round.  Therefore, he centred his search on the southeastern part of the country.

Florida swampland courtesy wordpress.com.

Walt's choice did save him money:  the Florida swampland only cost him $180 per acre.  In 1964, under false company names, he purchased 27,400 acres of swampland 12 miles south of Orlando. Speculation was rampant as to who had purchased so much land in central Florida.  Finally, one Orlando newspaper announced "We say our mystery industry is Disney".  In 1965, Walt held an official press conference announcing Project Florida.  Within days, the swampland skyrocketed to $1000 per acre and within months to tens of thousands of dollars per acre.

Walt assembled a team of architects and engineers whom he dubbed "imagineers" to execute his plans for Disney World.  The team broke ground in the Fall of 1969, bulldozing endless acres of cypress and pine trees.  The construction workers built 50 miles of levees and canals around the property.  They drained water from areas where they planned to construct the park. They removed 7 million cubic tons of dirt for the Seven Seas Lagoon which was used to build the foundation for the Magic Kingdom.

Walt had sketched a design for Disney World which was similar to Disneyland:  a wheel configuration with spokes.  The hub of the wheel would be the Cinderella castle.  The spokes of the wheel would be the streets leading to the various lands:  Fantasyland, Adventureland, Frontierland, Tomorrowland, etc.  Walt's inspiration for the wheel-like design had come from the town of Goderich, Ontario where his grandparents had lived.


                               


The Cinderella Castle, patterned after Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, Germany, was built to sustain hurricane winds.  Plans for the castle even included an apartment for Walt and his family, which they never used as Walt passed away before the castle was built.  Buildings sprung up along Main Street USA, inspired by Walt's childhood hometown of Marceline, Missouri.  From there, construction began on the various "lands".

Main Street USA courtesy tumblr.com.

Walt Disney World officially opened on October 1, 1971 (see my post "Flying Elephants and Mad Tea Parties" at http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2012/10/flying-elephants-mad-tea-parties.html). While Walt never got to see the finished product, his brother Roy was present for the festivities.  To think that the Imagineers carved the Magic Kindgom out of seemingly useless swampland.

Disney World's opening day October 1, 1971, courtesy whican.com.

The Walt Disney Touch

Here are fifteen facts about Disneyland & Disney World which point to Walt Disney's immaculate attention to detail.

1.  Beneath Disney World are a series of tunnels so that characters can travel to their respective lands without being seen.  Therefore, they never appear in a land that they don't belong in ex. Snow White in Frontierland.

2.  Walt Disney had rules for characters at his amusement park including;  they couldn't say NO, they couldn't break character and they couldn't point with one finger to show directions (it was considered rude to point).

3.  Disney wanted his guests' experience to be a pleasurable and a genuine one so he used "smellitzers" throughout the park:  a vanilla scent was wafted into Main Street USA; a sea salt scent surrounded the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

4.  Walt had an apartment above the fire hall on Main Street USA.  If he was in residence, he placed a lamp in the window.

5.  Disney employees in the parks were not supposed to grow any facial hair until recent years.

6.  Walt Disney once ate a hotdog in Disney land, counting the number of steps he took until he finished it.  He placed the garbage can 25 steps from the snack stand.

7.  Women who played princesses had to stand 5' 4" to 5' 7", except for Alice, Wendy and Tinkerbell who were shorter.  Princesses had to be under 27 years of age.

8.  Walt never wanted to be called Mr. Disney.  Therefore, he had all Disneyland employees wear badges with first names only.

9.  In keeping with the goal of entertaining its guests, Disney World is only second to the US military in purchasing explosives for its nightly fireworks displays.

10.  Disneyland and Disney World's Main Street buildings have names written on the windows.  These are individuals who have contributed to the design of the parks.

11.  Snow White Castle in Disneyland and Cinderella Castle in Disney World were both designed using the artist's trick "forced perspective" which makes them appear higher than they actually are.

12.  Gum is forbidden to be sold at Disneyland and Disney World.  It is not even sold at the Orlando Airport!  Walt was tired of picking gum off the bottom of his shoe every ten minutes when he went to other amusement parks.

13.  The King Arthur Carousel in Disneyland features hand carved and painted horses which are polished every night.

14.  Walt used to stoop down and study the various buildings at Disneyland to get the perspective of a young child.

15.  Once Walt overheard a Disneyland guest say:  "We don't need to go on this ride, we've already seen it."  That was just cause for Walt to have the Jungle Cruise ride overhauled.

For more information, read "90 Facts You Didn't Know About Disney" at http://www.empireonline.com/features/90-disney-facts/9.asp OR "The Walt Disney Touch" at
http://www.justdisney.com/disneyland/waltdisney_touch/.

Walt Disney: A Janus-Minded Entrepreneur

staticflickr.com

The Magic Kingdom, built in 1955, is a paradox:  Main Street USA preserves America in 1910 while Tomorrowland projects into the future year, 1986.  Walt Disney, a Janus-minded entrepreneur, was forever looking forward and backwards at the same time.  He longed for the days of his youth in turn of the century Marceline, Missouri.  However, he filled his amusement park with examples of the future:  the monorail, the people mover and the Carousel of Progress.

Main Street USA reminds us of America's past with its old town square theatre, barber shop, emporium and city hall.

Likewise, Fantasyland features buildings such as the Sleeping Beauty Castle fashioned after the 19th Century Neuschwanstein in Germany, and the Crystal Palace, modelled after the building from the London World Exposition in 1851.

Frontierland includes a shooting arcade, Swiss Family Robinson Tree House and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Liberty Square features a Mississippi Steamboat, a Victorian style Haunted Mansion and the Hall of Presidents, which all harken back to America at the turn of the century.

However, Tomorrowland projects into the future with the Carousel of Progress, celebrating American inventions, the Speedway and the people mover.

dreamstomemories.net

Walt Disney himself contributed to the progress of America with his pioneering techniques in film and animation.  Disney debuted the first sound cartoon in 1928, Steamboat Willie, and the first technicolour cartoon, Flowers & Trees, in 1932.  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, debuting in 1937, was the first full length animated feature film.

Walt Disney also contributed to the growth of American cities.  Anaheim, built on an old orange grove, grew from a town of 15,000 in 1955 to a metropolis of 336,000 today.  Orlando, fashioned out of a Florida swamp, grew from a small city of 99,000 in 1971 to a large city of 255,000 today. Orlando Airport is now one of the biggest in the United States thanks to Disney World.

Note:  To read about another Janus-minded entrepreneur, check out my post about Henry Ford Museum, "Light's Golden Jubilee" at http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2013/08/august-3.html.