More on this book
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
November 25 - December 2, 2021
“All of our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”
“The first limitation that you have is your imagination. After that, the limitations are what is physically possible to build. It’s surprising sometimes the things that you think are impossible that turn out to be doable and what you thought made them impossible was really an opinion. Not a fact.” — Joe Rohde
“He [Walt] used to get so God damn excited about EPCOT. When he talked about it, it was like he’d just come back from the moon yesterday. He was just so thrilled.” — Rolly Crump
Marty Sklar writes about the choice we have when looking at a blank sheet of paper, “You can see it as the most frightening thing in the world—because you have to make the first mark on it. Or you can see a blank page as the greatest opportunity—you get to make the first mark on it.”
“To a child, this weary world is brand-new, gift wrapped. Disney tried to keep it that way for adults.” — Eric Sevareid
On each visit, we challenge each other to discover something we haven’t yet seen or done. This keeps us sharp, interested, and engaged. You can do the same. Over the next seven days, train your brain to “expand your expectations” by challenging yourself to see something you have never noticed. Try this on your drive to work, your way home from school, anywhere and everywhere you go.
“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” — Tony Robbins
Charles Schultz once said, “Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us ha...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
“Q: How many Imagineers does it take to change a light bulb? A: Who said it has to be a light bulb?” — Walt Disney Imagineering
“If you set your goals ridiculously high and it’s a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success.” — James Cameron
“Here in Florida we have something special we never enjoyed at Disneyland…the blessing of size. There’s enough land here to hold all the ideas and plans we can possibly imagine.” — Walt Disney
“If you focus on what you have left behind, you will never be able to see what lies ahead.” — Gusteau from Ratoutille
The greatest danger in life isn’t making a mistake, risking a relationship, or losing a loved one. All those things, and more, will happen regardless. The greatest danger in life is staying stuck. Refusing to move forward. Frozen. That’s when you know it is time to let it go.
“Don’t cling to a mistake just because you spent a long time making it.” — Aubrey De Graf
When we focus on what was, we risk missing out on what is.
You can’t move forward with your future while simultaneously holding on to your dead past.
“It’s sort of like not being able to enjoy sitting on your front porch anymore because it totally reeks of something foul out there. You can come up with all these brilliant ways to deal with the problem—light incense, set up fans, blame it on the dog—but until you realize that something has crawled under your house and died, your problems will linger on, stinking up your life.” — Jen Sincero
Instead of building the City of Tomorrow, Disney folded many of Walt’s ideas for his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow into the Phase One construction of the Magic Kingdom. Examples include the transportation and clean energy systems, innovative construction techniques including the off-site building of completely furnished hotel rooms, a filtered tree farm, careful care for central Florida’s ecosystem, a vacuum-powered trash system, and Florida’s first 911 telephone system.
“The fastest way to kill something special is to compare it to something else.”
Stop asking “What if?” in your life. Accept what is, take responsibility for it, and commit to moving forward.
“The past can hurt, but the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it.” — Rafiki in The Lion King
We join the meeting of the Extinct Attractions Support Group as it recites the group’s daily affirmation: “I deserve good things. I’m entitled to provide my share of happiness. I refuse to beat myself up. I am an attractive attraction. I am a fun experience. Because I’m good enough, I’m entertaining enough, and, doggone it, Disney fans like me.”
“You are creating the reality you are experiencing right now in your life and in your career.” — Mindy Mackenzie
“When you spend less time deciding, you conserve energy and accomplish more things.” — Stephen Guise
Make the choice to change. Know that you can renegotiate your current reality. Start taking decisive action and create a greater capacity for your success.
“Human beings follow through on who they believe they are.” — Tony Robbins
“I give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it.” — Alice in Alice in Wonderland
President Truman may have been a politician, but when it came to leadership, he was certainly no Dumbo. We see this in his ability to speak the truth and his willingness to take responsibility for his decisions, his actions, and his results. Truman took to heart the truism that if you wish to lead others, then you first must learn to lead yourself.
“To be able to lead others, a man must be willing to go forward alone.” — Harry S. Truman
Knowing what it means to be a leader is about as easy as knowing what it means to be an American. Everyone has a different definition. What I do know is that being an American has never been about where you are from. America is about where you are going. The same is true for leadership. When leading, people don’t care about where you’ve been—past credentials, past experiences, past exploits. What they care about is their future—and as much as Walt Disney was patriotic about the past, he was equally fervent about moving forward into the future. A future that included an Experimental Prototype
...more
“To be thrown upon one’s own resources, is to be cast into the very lap of fortune, for our faculties then undergo a development and display an energy of which they were previously unsusceptible.” — Benjamin Franklin Audio-Animatronics Co-Host of the American Adventure
Choose the Single Rider Line—Many Disney attractions give guests the option of waiting in a single rider line. Yes, you will experience the attraction separately from your friends and family, but your wait time is significantly shorter. The same is true for your dreams and goals. Stop waiting for everyone to give you permission to start living your life. Don’t wait to find a publisher to write your book, a boss to start your business, or a companion to travel the world. Lead yourself by choosing yourself!
“Be who you are, not who anyone else is, or who anyone else wants you to be.” — James Altucher
“There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we erect ourselves.” — Ronald Reagan
“Time is life’s most valuable commodity and attracts many robbers.” — Author Unknown
“You’ll never have enough money to buy all the stuff you don’t really need, and you’ll never have enough time to do all the things you really don’t want to do.” — Gay Hendricks
“You can do so much in 10 minutes’ time. Ten minutes, once gone, are gone for good. Divide your life into 10-minute units and sacrifice as few of them as possible in meaningless anxiety.” — Ingvar Kamprad
Don’t be embarrassed to nap. My daily naps are non-negotiable, and I’ve never angered the gods for doing so. Noted nappers include Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Gene Autry, and Ronald Reagan. Thanks to recent studies, we now know that nappers are more alert, healthy, and productive!
“Do what you should do now, so later you can do what you want to do.” — Lee Cockerell
“Good things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” — attributed to Abraham Lincoln
his leadership book Creating Magic, Lee Cockerell, former Vice President of Operations for Walt Disney World, writes, “It’s not the magic that makes it work; it’s the way we work that makes it magic.”
You will work harder at something you love than at something you like. You will work harder than you have ever worked when you start chasing your dream. You will hustle and grind and sweat and push and pull. You will get up earlier and go to bed later. But that’s okay. Know why? Joy is an incredible alarm clock. It will wake you up and keep you up and pick you up and gently pull you through a thousand rejections along the way. If your goal is to work less, stay on the road to average. Do something you just kind of like. Settle into life like a long winter’s nap and coast on through to your
...more
“Even though I have tremendously enjoyed what I have been doing for the past fifty years I have to point out that yet, it has been work. Sometimes hard, sometimes frustrating, always stimulating.” — Tony Baxter
“We dream of instant success, devoid of effort or struggle or denial. And, who could argue with the desire for a little more ease along the way. But the truth is, all too often, success without effort is hollow.” — Jonathan Fields
It’s 3:20 a.m. I got picked up for work at 6:45 a.m. yesterday. I’m not good with math, especially after being up for approximately 61 hours but I think I’ve been up for over 77 hours. I did a table read for Guardians of the Galaxy 2 this morning and then shot all day on Passengers and just now wrapped some 144 hours later. Weirdly both films, which I’ll be shooting back to back, are being shot in Atlanta at Pinewood studios. We have the best crew. Total rock stars busting their asses. And the stuff we’re shooting. My God. I can’t wait for you to see it. I go back in about 8 hours to do more.
...more
“Make sure when you wake up in the morning that you know you accomplished everything you possibly could the previous day. And then do it again!” — Ray Bradbury
“I’ve never known Walt when he wasn’t working.” — Roy Disney
“The dream is free, but the hustle is sold separately.” — Anonymous
“I never dreamed about success. I worked for it....
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
“The best kinds of people in your life aren’t those who gather to celebrate your success, but those who gather to he...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
