Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Inspiration from Mary Poppins


The movie Saving Mr. Banks has hit theaters recently and has received quite a bit of criticism about it leaves out important parts of the real story behind how the Mary Poppins movie came to be.

Personally, I find various levels of inspiration in the true story of the events.

Let's start with the beginning. The idea of Mary Poppins, originally started in the mind of PL Travers (born Helen) when she was 13 years old and taking care of her siblings. Her father was dead, her depressed mother had gone to drown herself in a creek. It was stormy and her siblings were scared, so Helen made up a story to tell them ad keep their mind off their troubles.

How many people have ideas that are born out of necessity? In this case, a desire to escape from a downright rotten reality.

It took 26 years for Helen to complete the story and fully bring Mary Poppins to life. Think about that - TWENTY-SIX YEARS! We live in a time where people are easy to give up on something that doesn't fully develop in 26 minutes - amirite?

Although the film, Saving Mr. Banks would lead the audience to believe it took 2 weeks for Walt Disney to get PL Travers to agree to making the film, that's hardly the case. It took Disney 20 years to win Helen over.

Have you ever spent a significant amount of time pursuing a business relationship?

There's far more to the story, and it's pretty deep. I suggest you take a look at the post here or here for more details about what really happened, but I left all that out because it wasn't the point of this post.

What I wanted to communicate, as you're reflecting on 2013 and making plans for 2014, is that you have to hold on to the dreams you really care about. Sometimes, they don't come true overnight and it's an uphill climb from inception to reality, but, if it's important to you, like the story was for Helen, it's worth every step of the way.

Additionally, if you are interested in doing something that can better your future or seal your legacy, or any of those other things that Disney had in mind when he started the journey, don't give up just because someone tells you no. If you feel like it's really the right situation for you and/or your business - then you keep going.

Above all else - I wish you a VERY Happy New Year!

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