Did you know that Walt Disney loved making motion pictures but didn’t love his ‘pictures’ being finished? Fascinating, right? Most of us love things being finished.
In his own words:
“A picture is a thing that once you wrap it up and turn it over to Technicolor, you’re through. Snow White is a dead issue with me. The last picture I just finished – the one I just wrapped up a few weeks ago – it’s gone; I can’t touch it. [If] There’s things in it I don’t like? I can’t do anything about it.”
He didn’t like not being able to add to a movie when it was completed. So what did he do? He created Disneyland.
“I wanted something live, something that could grow, something I could keep plussing with ideas, you see? The park is that. Not only can I add things but even the trees will keep growing; the thing will get more beautiful every year. And as I find what the public likes… I have to apply that to some… thing; I can’t change that picture, so that’s why I wanted that park.”
I love him for that.
Walt Disney is known for that idea of “plussing it.” Plussing something, to him, involved always adding something extra or refining an idea to make it better, no matter how good it already was.
For example, during the construction of Disneyland, he would walk through the park at night, imagining what it would be like for guests. He’d visualize the entire experience, from the smallest details like the texture of the pavement to how guests would feel in different areas. He continually sought ways to “plus” every element, making the experience more immersive and magical.
According to Pat McKinney, Walt Disney “came up with the idea for a Christmas parade going through the park. The financial people at Disney disagreed with Walt’s idea as people were already going to the park and didn’t expect anything different. Walt wanted to deliver a never-before-seen experience. Despite what the finance people had thought, the idea became a huge success in those early days and drew many more people to the park.
Walt Disney also used [this] concept to improve his company’s ideation. He would tell his Imagineers (people who design the Disney experience) to ‘plus it’ as a way to motivate them to take their work to another level. He challenged them to see what was possible and then encouraged them to take it a few steps further.”
‘Plus it’ is a technique we can each use to iterate on our ideas without using any harsh criticism. We can take what is good about an idea and tweak it to make it even better.
Take what’s good and make it even better.
Hearing about Walt Disney’s technique made me think:
How can I “plus it” in my own business?
How can I take what’s already good and make it even better?
What would it look like to give something extra to those I’m trying to help?
As I sat with those questions a bit, I started experimenting with fresh ways to engage with my content – ways that still align with my rhythm, style, and values.
One idea? Adding printables and worksheets to my website. It’s been such a fun way to offer something tangible – something extra. I even created two last week as a complement to my blog, and yes, I called it a “plus post” in Walt’s honor. (The schoolteacher in me is proud I figured out how to make it all work!)
This year I’m going to keep figuring out how to “plus” things in my business and in my life – taking some good things and making them even better. Giving a little extra.
I can’t wait to hear about the ways you might be open to “plussing” things in yours, too.
And if you need help with it, I’d love to brainstorm ideas.
And thank you, in advance, for continuing to read, listen, watch, learn, and grow with me. I appreciate it more than you know.
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