Monthly Archives: August 2024

You’re Creativity Doesn’t Need Monetization or Approval

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Creativity is core to being human. Your very humanity comes with the tools to be creative. Back when humans were living in caves, they painted, they told stories, and sometimes they painted and told stories. (That’s not a six-legged animal. It’s an animal on the cave wall that would seem to move as the firelight flickered across it.) Creative expression is just a part of who you are.

Unfortunately, we’ve come to a time when society says that everything we do needs to be productive. All our waking time needs to be monetized. If you aren’t making money from it, it isn’t worth doing. The exceptions to this rule are going to the bathroom, eating, or going someplace to spend the money your making, even if that someplace is your living room couch to watch Netflix, to which you’re paying a monthly fee while also paying the Internet and electricity fees.

Beyond this neurotic need to make money, we have to be good at something in order for it to be worthwhile. The good news is that we don’t have to be Olympic or professional level athletes to enjoy sports. However, we can’t be bad at those sports either. If we pick up a tennis racket and can’t hit the ball back over the net, we might find ourselves saying, “I’m not any good at this.” That’s not the truth. What you should say is, “I haven’t had enough practice at this.” Or you can take a cue from Goofy, even if you’ve played for years or you play like a beginner, as long as you have fun, you’re number one.

The same is true for creative works. You don’t have to be good in order to enjoy an activity. If the activity is something that helps you cope with the world, all you have to do is spend the time to do it. You are worth giving up as many hours as you need to do something you like and you don’t have to be good at it.

Abraham Piper reminded me of this in one of his reels. He paints to center himself. The results don’t matter.

Find that creative activity you love, enjoy it for what it is.

If you want more creativity tips, check out my books in the Disneyland Is Creativity series and the Penguinate! series.

Being Kind as a Measure of Success?

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Mister Rogers told a story about a 100-yard dash at the Special Olympics: The starter’s gun went off, and the nine contestants started the race to the finish line. One of the competitors fell early and hurt his knee. He cried out, and when he did, the other runners, all of them, turned around and went back to him. They linked arms and crossed the finish line together. All of them were happy for their success. The crowd went wild. The story was popularized in a TV ad by the Foundation for a Better Life. This is based on an incident that happened in 1976. In that race, one of the runners fell and two others stopped to help him up. They finished the race together.

The implication of the story is that we are better off when we help others win and when everybody can win. In sports, we absolutely know that isn’t possible. There’s a winner and a lot of losers, especially if you believe the adage that second place is first loser. It doesn’t matter how much you train, how much effort you put in, or how much talent you have. If you don’t win, you lose. This is a hard way to live life, but it is also difficult to imagine 16 teams winning the Super Bowl. (Poor Jim Kelly, 4-time Super Bowl loser.)

How do we define success outside of sports? If it’s the cutthroat, second-place-is-first-loser philosophy, aren’t we selling our humanity short? Mister Rogers said that the three keys to success were to be kind, be kind, be kind. What happens when we start trying to outkind each other? What would it look like to be in first place at being kind? Kindness starts with being kind to yourself, and it doesn’t end there.

Sources: Life’s Journeys According to Mister Rogers: Things to Remember Along the Way by Fred Rogers (2005).

Snopes: Special Olympics Linked Arms Race Finish accessed 8/11/2024.

Planning a Disney Vacation? Talk to Lynn Barron

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Every year, I contact Lynn Barron (at Lbarron@conciears.com) to find out what a package to Disneyland costs, and every year, he asks me the appropriate questions to get me the best package price-to-benefit available. Lynn’s expertise comes from more than his extensive travel experience. He is a former custodial cast member, who has parlayed his former work site into two co-authored books on the park and a successful Disney podcast.

Books and Podcast

Along with Ken Pellman, Lynn authored Cleaning the Kingdom and its sequel. These two books expose the dirty underside of the park and how the vaunted custodial crew keeps it clean. Featuring stories from several custodial cast members, Cleaning the Kingdom is a must have for any Disney enthusiast and for those who wonder how they keep the parks so clean.

Lynn and Ken also do The Sweep Spot, a podcast that covers all the Disney topics. It provides updates about the parks and has interviews with former cast members, Disney historians and authors, including me. These two media ventures help Lynn keep his fingers on the pulse of the parks, so that he can plan incredible Disney vacations for his clients.

Honeymoon and More

Lynn has arranged park visits for both my nieces, including one honeymoon and one trip to Walt Disney World. His recommendations and hard work have made these trips easier. More importantly, he has helped make the Disney parks more fun.

Lynn didn’t ask me to write this. I just wanted to give him a shout out for the joy he’s brought to my family. Disneyland is a magical place, and Lynn has increased its magic through his various endeavors. Thanks, Lynn.