Motivational Lessons from Classic Holiday Characters

I know, this is the time of year you want to relax, turn your mind off for a few days, and enjoy some holiday classics from your youth, not get all motivated and think about how to achieve more. Well I’m here to tell you that you can do both!

In October, I posted an article titled Rating the Business Acumen of Horror Movie Monsters. Not wanting the holiday characters to feel left out, I have compiled a list of what we all can learn from our holiday favorites…

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

(Unfamiliar with the story? Read all about Rudolph the Read Nosed Reindeer

Pro: Turning weakness into strength

You have to give Rudolph some credit. He turns a physical limitation into a tremendous asset that allows him to become “the most famous reindeer of all.” Kind of like how Jimmy Fallon took not being funny or able to keep a straight face and turned into a hugely successful career.

Granted, I also think that the tale of Rudolph is actually a depressing treatise in bullying, conformity, and exploitation, but hey, you play with the hand your dealt.

Con: Passivity

On the other hand, it’s not Rudolph sat down with his creative journal and started brainstorming ways of using his nose for betterment of mankind. No, he just sat, lonely, outcast, and depressed, destined to one day become the “north pole Christmas reindeer sniper,” until Santa found him and pulled him out of obscurity.

We all hear about stories like this. Chris Klein was discovered when the director of Election was scouting locations in his hometown. Shannyn Sossamon was discovered while dj’ing a party. Rudolph was evidently discovered while sulking in his room alone listening to Morrissey CDs (this is an unconfirmed rumor)

Success rarely happens this way. Rudolph got lucky. Unless you have a shining nose that an “impaired by fog” transport driver can see from miles away, chances are you won’t get so lucky.

The Lesson: Know your weaknesses and figure out ways to eliminate, work around, or leverage those weaknesses. Then don’t wait around for a fat man in a sleigh to rescue you; go out and get yours!

Frosty the Snowman

(Unfamiliar with the story? Read all about Frosty the Snowman

Pro: A “Carpe Diem” attitude

Frosty was fully aware of his mortality. Rather than mope about it (while listening to Morrissey CDs), Frosty committed to making the most out of his life. Right there in the song, it says, “Frosty the snowman knew / The sun was hot that day, / So he said, ‘Let’s run and / we’ll have some fun / now before I melt away.’ ”

Evidently Frosty found time to read Awaken the Giant Within (or dare I say, Improvise to Success!) in between freezing and melting. Gotta love that positive attitude…

Con: Poor asset management

Frosty came to life because of a magic hat that was placed on his head. You know what happens when the hat comes off? He goes back to being in inanimate snowman. To you and I that would mean he dies. He’ll come back to life when someone puts the hat back on his end, but let me ask you a simple question: If your very existence (or at least you sentience) was dependent on a hat staying on top of your head, wouldn’t you do everything you could to make sure that hat never left your head??

Superglue it to your scalp maybe? Staple gun it right into your skull? At the very least attach a chin strap so a strong wind couldn’t just blow it off. But oh no, our happy go lucky snowman prances all over town with just the top hat on his head.

In fact, in some of the old animated Frosty specials, Frosty’s enemies (oh yes, a snowman can have enemies) would employ the “let’s blow the top hat off of the snowman” defense. Does he learn? Does he finally add a chin strap to his top hat. Nope. He just goes right on his merry way.

Dumbass.

The Lesson: Enjoy each day, and make the most of each precious moment. Just make sure you do the basic things in business and life to make sure you will have many many precious moments.

The Grinch

(Unfamiliar with the story? Read all about The Grinch

Pro: Planning and execution

The Grinch is the only “villain” on my list, but he is truly an iconic Holiday character. But despite his villainy, the Grinch was truly a master planner and executor.

Thin about it: he decides to ruin Whoville’s Christmas. Within a few hours he has created an entire plan, sewn disguises, and planned for contingencies. His plans go off almost 100% without a hitch! The only slight hiccup came when Cindy Lou Who discovers him. However, the Grinch has planned so well that his Santa outfit convinces her that he is Santa. He doesn’t have to “off her” to keep her quiet, or tie her up, or kidnap her. Nope. He actually takes the time to tuck her back into bed!

He finishes his plan and ends up with all the Whos’ presents exactly as planned. We could all learn a lesson from the Grinch when it comes to making and implementing plans.

Con: Not understanding the market

Unfortunately, while the Grinch’s execution was great, his market research was a tad askew. Like so many businesses and managers in the world, he didn’t take the time to figure out if his plan was going to actually help him achieve his goal. In fact it did not. Though the Whos were without their presents, they still had their Christmas spirit and sang their hearts out around the ol’ Christmas tree.

(By the way, I think this is where the Grinch gets a bad rap. If you had to spend an entire day listening to an entire town sing “daboo-doray” over and over and over, you can’t tell me that you wouldn’t want to steal and ruin Christmas too. I’m just sayin’…)

The Grinch wants to end Christmas, but he didn’t realize that it wasn’t the presents that gave the Whos their cheer. Not to be too morbid here, but if the Grinch had kidnapped Cindy Lou Who, that may have squelched the Whos’ spirits a bit. I doubt they’d be singing around the tree while an FBI task force was encamped at Cindy Lou’s house).

The Grinch is a classic example of “great tactics, bad strategy.”

The Lesson: Take some actual time to think through and study your strategies and decide whether they will help you achieve your goals. Once you feel they will, go out and implement like the Grinch.

Santa Claus

(Unfamiliar with the story? Read all about Santa Claus

Pro: Trust and following

I don’t want to spoil anyone’s holiday here, but I’m going to have to reveal a little secret: Santa Claus doesn’t exist. But we can all learn from his example.

Millions of children believe Santa Claus exists! Parents are in on the conspiracy! Think about it: there are people who think the moon landing was a hoax I bet many of these people teach their kids that Santa is real. I would love to see a Gallup poll that tells us what percentage of the child population in the U.S. believes in Santa but not in the Apollo moon landing. I used to believe the children are our future. But now I don’t know…

For better or worse, you gotta admire Santa’s draw. If a real person can get millions of people to lie for him, to love him, to behave for him, and to even write letters to him – not emails, but real physical letters! – that would be the most powerful person on earth. Santa’s somehow done it, and he doesn’t even exist! Amazing.

Con: Lack of business model

Here’s what I don’t get: how is this guy living? He doesn’t charge for his toys. He has a giant workforce of elves who make all these toys. He lives in a house, so I assume he has a mortgage. He’s married, and as far as I know Mrs. Claus doesn’t have her own job so he’s gotta support her. And yet he makes no money. Maybe the government just bails him out every year.

It’s one thing to be loved by millions. It’s quite another to monetize that popularity. Santa is like some of those “social media” experts who have 10,000 Facebook “friends” and 20,000 Twitter followers and yet have never made dime from them.

(Speaking of which, you should send me a Facebook friend request and follow me on Twitter 🙂 )

The Lesson: There is a huge difference between people liking you and telling you how much they love your product or service and people actually ponying up money to pay for it. Don’t confuse the two. If all you want is to be liked, no problem. If you want a business, don’t follow the Santa model.

So now as you watch your favorite holiday specials, think over some of the lessons you can use to make the new year and every year after amazing for yourself.

Be well, and have a very happy holiday!

About

By Avish Parashar. As the world's only Motivational Improviser, Avish uses techniques from the world of improv comedy to engage, entertain, and educate audiences on ideas around change, creativity, and motivation. Connect with Avish on Google+

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