Keep Moving Forward

I was on a flight from Singapore (which is about 19 hours, gack!) and scrolling through a list of movies available for viewing on the flight. On a whim I selected Meet the Robinsons. Have you seen it? It’s an animated Disney film about an orphan who likes to invent things but keeps failing. He’s got a bit of an inferiority complex and through his adventures in the film, he learns to believe in himself and his inventions. I don’t want to give away the plot, so I’ll leave it at that.

What I love about the movie is its message, which is: Keep moving forward. No matter how many times you fail, keep trying because eventually you’ll succeed. There’s even a quote at the end of the movie from Walt Disney himself that contains the phrase in it. [If you're the cynical type, don’t be so quick to dismiss the message as trite. Even if you’re not an animated film fan, check out the movie for a dose of inspiration.]

The message is so simple and yet so profound. It’s easy for all of us to develop a bit of an inferiority complex as we struggle to find a career we love and pursue it. I experienced many failures myself as I was making my transition—from exploring lots of possibilities and feeling like none of them was the right one, to trying to create a financial plan for how to make it happen and not seeing a way out, to trying to be grateful for what I already had and feeling miserable instead.

If your goal is precious, and it is, Walt Disney’s words are poignant, inspirational, and on point. Here’s what he said:

“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”