WALL E, Steve Jobs, Pixar and Optimism

WALL E.  Have you seen it?  What did you think?  I loved it.

I want to discuss WALL E, the latest release from Pixar, not because of the quality of the movie, but because of the Pixar story, and what it has to say about self confidence.  As I mention in “Straight Talk for Success,” Successful people are self confident.  Self confident people have three things in common.  If you want to build your self confidence, become optimistic.  Face your fears and act.  Surround yourself with positive people.

Steve Jobs, the man who brought you the Mac and iPod, was the optimist who realized the potential of Pixar early on.  In his New York Times Book Review review of “The Pixar Touch” Michael Hirschorn says, “Without Jobs’ relentless drive, Pixar would have been an inferior and probably bankrupt competitor to Sun Microsystems, not the most important movie studio in our era.”

That’s what optimists do.  As The Optimist Creed says, they “think only of the best, work only for the best and expect only the best.”  Steve Jobs vision, belief and self confidence did a lot to make Pixar what it is today.  In the process, he and the incredibly creative people at Pixar brought us not only WALL E, but Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and Ratatouille.

If you’ve seen these movies, you know just how creative they are.  If you haven’t, I suggest you go to see WALL E in the theater, and rent the others. 

The common sense point here is simple.  Self confidence is the platform on which all success is built.  If you want to become self confident, you need to be optimistic.  You need to clearly see where you want to go, and believe in your heart you can get there.  WALL E was optimistic enough to hitch a ride on a spaceship in order to be with his one true love.  In the end, he and she save the world – but that’s a story better told by the optimists at Pixar.

That’s my take on the importance of optimism to self confidence and success. What’s yours?  As always, I’m interested in your perspective on these thoughts.  I welcome and appreciate your comments.  Thanks for reading.

Bud