An Utter Rejection of Failure
Rambles and Shambles 5
So every Wednesday, my family has this tradition. Family Movie Night. We take turns picking movies, and once a week, one of us gets to force the others to watch a movie that THEY want to watch.
We only have one rule. No complaining during the movie.
It’s something we started doing a few years ago (during the pandemic) to introduce each other to movies that OTHER people liked. Essentially, it was a way for us to actually get to know each other better…
…in this digital wasteland of modern day internet saturated society.
It’s been a pretty awesome thing, these last few years. Probably one of the few good things to come from that stupid pandemic.
But last night?
Last night was my wife’s turn. And you know what she picked?
Wild Robot.
And let me tell you, this is a really cool movie. Fun for the whole family, and no hidden agendas or ridiculous propaganda…
…just a simple love letter to moms as far as I can tell.
But there are a lot of business lessons in there as well, if we want to cut to the chase here.
Overcoming adversity by thinking outside the box, comes to mind.
The movie poses a question.
What do you do to solve a problem, when you barely know what the problem is, and have no idea where to start when it comes to solving it?
You don’t know what the problem is, but you can just feel something is off.
We’ve all been there, right?
Well in this movie, Roz (our robot protagonist) is crash landed on an island filled with wild animals.
And when Roz first gets there she doesn’t even know how to communicate with anyone. Now…
…this is a fairly new movie, and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. So I’ll be careful here what I talk about. However…
…what basically happens is Roz is put in a seemingly impossible situation, but she doesn’t give up (and listen I’m saying SHE loosely, this is a robot we are talking about.)
This robot literally has to rewrite its entire internal code to complete the task it set out to complete, basically voiding its own warranty and breaking itself…
…just because “That was what was required” to finish the task set out before it.
And you might think “breaking it’s warranty, who cares about that? What a silly thing to say.” But actually it’s not. Think about it.
If you were a robot, your warranty might be a very sacred thing to you. Almost like adhering to a religious belief.
But the point is, this robot voided that warranty. Changed everything it was, just to complete its task.
And yes…
…it was a love letter to moms. But also…
…there is a lesson in there for anyone who ever wanted to accomplish anything.
Sometimes, to get to where you want to get to…
…you have to be willing to sacrifice a lot. You have to be FULLY committed. And you have to refuse to be denied.
A complete and utter rejection of failure.
That is what is required most times. And the bigger your goals? The more adamant you must be about this rejection of failure.
That’s a few of the things I took away from the movie.
Great film. Instant classic from the folks who brought us Shrek, and you know that is another awesome movie.
But check it out if you get a chance. It’s a great one.
And don’t give me that crap about, “I don’t like kids movies.”
Some of the greatest marketing lessons known to man hide in kids movies, so consider it field research and get over yourself.
That’s all I got!
Kam