Leap Academy with Ilana Golan - From Rejection to Top Disney Animator: Saul Blinkoff’s Tale of Tenacity

Episode Date: October 3, 2023

What happens when you give up on your dreams and you realize you were 3 feet from gold?  This is a story about perseverance, aiming higher and believing in yourself despite rejection. Saul Blinkoff, Hollywood filmmaker and animator shares with Ilana about how he gave himself a second chance and went on to work with companies such as Disney, Dreamworks,Netflix, Amazon, animating for films like Pocahontas Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan Tarzan and so many more! Listen to this inspiring and engaging story and share it with someone who needs inspiration today.Watch this episode on YouTube - https://youtu.be/COinzs7Qd_M More about Saul:Website: http://www.saulblinkoff.com/ SPEAKING — SAUL BLINKOFF Video Promo: https://youtu.be/j4i9yYJsvyo Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saul.blinkoff/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saulblinkoff23/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saul-blinkoff-a702563 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@saul.blinkoff?_t=8dEBvS74TD4&_r=1 Apple podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-of-awesome/id1546988218 Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1D8YQe0kvyLJ6bP6jO5jJQ?si=deRPgWkaS8aJp4OonPcXew About Ilana Golan & Leap Academy:Website - https://www.leapacademy.com/Follow Ilana on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilanagolan/YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@ilanagolan-leap-academy

And then I came up with a brilliant way to take that feeling of being a failure away. If you ever feel like a failure in life, and you will because you're a human being, and we all fail along the way, that's life. But if you ever feel like a failure, do what I did, and the feeling will go away in a second. You know what I did? I gave up. Welcome to The Leap Show. In The Leap Show, we're here to bring experts from around the globe who share inspiring stories, concrete tips, and insight on what helped them become the best version of themselves and who they are today and create the incredible life that they wanted.

Subscribe and follow us. Share this with friends who are also driven and aiming for more because you'll hear stories and tips that you'll hear nowhere else. Hi, I'm Ilana Golan, CEO of Leap Academy, which helps driven professionals reinvent, leap their careers to the next level. Now let's get started. So you need to listen to this story. This is a story of perseverance, about not giving up, of continuing despite rejection. And you want to hear and listen if you really want to aim for more. And sometimes it feels like it's really, really, really hard. Listen to somebody that made the impossible possible. Meet Saul Blinkoff. He's a Hollywood film maker, worked on many high profile clients,

including Disney and DreamWorks and Netflix and Amazon, speaking of ticking all the boxes. And he animated on the Disney film, the Pocahontas and Hunchback, right? I'm Notre Dame and Mulan and Tarzan. Like my daughter will probably be like drooling all over here and directed, you know, a couple of Winnie the Pooh movies, right? And award-winning DreamWorks series, Madagascar, A Little Wild. I mean, countless of others.

I can't even start naming everything. I first heard Sals public speaking in an event and it was so inspiring. I just had to bring him on the show. And he's a speaker around the world on practical tools for success and meaning of fulfillment and various aspects of life. And he also has a beautiful podcast on the life of awesome. So Saul is in Los Angeles, right? It was a wife, four kids. How do you get it all done, Saul? Welcome to the show.

Hi, Alana. Thank you so much. And it's so nice to see you again after the years when we met. Yeah. Wow. That's a big resume, huh? You know, I feel like I'm just getting started though. There's so much more that I want to do and that I'm involved in, but I will tell you,

you know, all that stuff that you mentioned is my career in quotes, but I'm also, you know, that takes a lot of time, but I'm also a husband and I'm a husband who wants to have a good marriage, which means that also takes time, right? I also have four kids. Three of them are teenagers. Two of them are girls. You know what that means? That means that takes a lot of time. I bring it up because, you know, time is really the most valuable thing that any of us will ever have. And no matter how wealthy we get, we can never add time. Think about that for a moment, right? You can work a little harder and make more zeros in your bank account. And you can always check that statement. Every day we wake up, we can be very

clear exactly how much money we have. We know exactly what we have left in the bank, but nobody shows us time. We don't know how much we have left. And I say that because I remind myself and I'm reminding all of our listeners today that time is the most valuable thing we have. And if you've showed up to this interview today, it already proves that you realize that time is valuable and you're willing to invest it into growing. And that really is the secret. It's like, will I make an investment? Think about investment. They say we spend money. We also spend time. I want to spend time with you. We use that expression because it's spending, it's investing.

So everyone who's shown up here today, I applaud you. And I applaud you for carving out time to learn and to grow and to connect with others who want to appreciate life. Exactly. And greatness. And we'll talk about it. So, so Saul, again, how did you even get into this industry, which is so hard to get into? Yeah, it really, it really is. Yeah. Thank you. It's, it's a, it's a, it's a crazy story. I mean, I grew up in New York, so I didn't grow up in

Hollywood. I grew up and I didn't know anybody had creative jobs. I didn't know that people were anything, you know, people I knew were like I knew were like business owners, doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, bakery owners, accountants. I didn't know anyone that was a painter. I didn't know anyone that worked in animation or anything creative. I didn't even know that was a job. All I knew is when I was 11 years old, I went to the movies and I saw a movie that changed my life. I'm looking up to the screen and I see the movie that changed my life. I'm looking up to the screen and I see the movie E.T. Remember that movie? Spielberg's masterpiece, still one of the most

incredible films ever made, incredibly emotional and deep and beautiful story about empathy. And I'm watching the movie and the credits are rolling at the end and I tap my mom and I say, mom, that's what I want to do someday. And my mom looks down at me and says, what, you want to leave planet earth in a spaceship? And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. Mom, I want to make movies. So I got a film camera because I found out at the library, I went to a library and I found that Spielberg made movies every weekend. That's what he did with kids in the neighborhood. So I got a film camera, my twin sister, my older brother, and we started making movies, murder movies, monster movies.

I remember we made a kidnap movie. We tied my sister up to a tree really tight. Afterwards, we go into the house to watch the movie. I still remember my mom saying, I liked the movie, but where's your sister? I said, she's still tied to the tree. What's wrong? You know, so, you know, I knew said, she's still tied to the tree. What's wrong? So I knew I was going to be a filmmaker one day.

And then I got to high school. When I was in high school, I think I was a freshman or sophomore in high school. And somebody came up to me one day. I'll never forget. They said, what are you going to do when you get out of high school? I said, well, I want to be a filmmaker. They're like, no, you don't want to do that. I said, no, I do. They go, no, you don't. Because if you want to be a filmmaker, you're going to have to move out

to Hollywood. And Hollywood is filled with weirdos, strange people. Do you really want to end up a weirdo? And I looked at them and I said, no, I don't want to end up a weirdo. And I'm telling you, right then and there, I gave up on my dream because one person told me I would end up a weirdo. And look, I do live in Hollywood today. And my four kids would tell you, Daddy is definitely a weirdo. So much for that. But at that point in my life, I was so impressionable. It's amazing how someone can say something to us and uplift us, you know, make us believe in ourselves and someone can say something else to us and throw us off our trajectory, make us doubt ourselves.

Well, at that point, I was so impressionable. I decided to give up on that dream. I'm like, forget it. I don't want to end up a weirdo. So I'm not going to do it. My parents like, so what are you going to do instead? I said, well, I'll go back to being an artist because that's what I love to do before that. Before movies, it was always drawing. Before movies, it was always drawing. As a little kid, I used to draw on the walls. I used to love

cartooning and drawing. So my parents are very supportive. And they're like, let's get you an art teacher to come to the house. So once a week through high school, this teacher would come to our home and teach me to draw from life. What an amazing teacher she was. She would set up a bowl of fruit, have me draw with pencil, charcoal, pastel. I remember she said to me, the first class, she said, Saul, drawing is not about copying something so it looks exactly like it.

Drawing is about seeing, developing your eye to look at the world a certain way. Choosing what lens you want to see something through. By the way, don't we all do that? We all choose what lens we want to see life through. Two people could be in the car and driving. Two separate cars going to work. And both get cut off by somebody, and they're late for work. One person freaks out. Oh my gosh, I can't believe you cut me off. What

are you doing? This is my road. This is my highway. This is my day, my time. The other person can be like, okay, you know what? I didn't get into an accident. I'll be five minutes late to work. Big deal. Very different way to experience it, different lens. And she taught me that. Then she said to me, I want you to draw from life. I want you to go to cafes, go to restaurants and go find people and draw them. Next time you go out to eat, draw people eating, draw people waiting for their table. She wanted me to see life. So I would fill up sketchbooks of these drawings. I would show her the drawings. I still remember her saying, I like the drawings, but none of the people have hands. Why did you not draw the hands?

Did the people there not have hands? I'm like, no, no, they had hands. She goes, why didn't you draw them? I said, because drawing hands is difficult. She goes, oh, it's hard? Okay. Here's your homework. Every night before you go to bed, you're going to draw your hand from a different position. And that's exactly what I did. And you know what happened in six weeks? I got really good at drawing hands. And she taught me one of the most valuable lessons in life. If we're going to be great at something, if we're going to be great at anything, then we have to have the singular mindset to turn our weakness into our strength. Boom. What an amazing tool. What an amazing mentor. By the way, if you're listening to this and you don't

have a mentor, you don't have a teacher of some sort, go get one. Go get a life coach, a teacher, a mentor, someone that you can be vulnerable with, someone that can show you where your strengths are. But even more importantly, they can show you where your flaws are because that's where the real work is going to be, right? Right. And be all in, right? And be all in, right. A lot of people like to get that feeling of accomplishment. And the feeling of accomplishment usually comes from when we reflect on something that we've done well. Think about it. We don't want to show the practice. We want to show us doing something successful. We don't want to show the other side. But that other side, that's really where you have to put your effort into. And so that was a great teacher I had. Then I went to the movies. So I'm watching The Little Mermaid in the theater. And I look up to the screen at the end, I tap my mom and I say, mom, that's what I want to do. She's like, what, you want to fall in love with a fish? I'm like, no, no, no. I want to be an animator at Disney. Because animation combined my two passions,

my love of filmmaking, my love of drawing, put them together, animation. And plus, I found out that Disney had a studio in Orlando, Florida. I don't have to go out to LA, right? You don't need to be with the weirdos. Yeah. So there I was, junior in high school, and I knew exactly what my dream was. My dream was to become a Disney animator.

I just had one problem. I had no idea how to do it. Today, you want to be a Disney animator, you go to a little thing called Google. You type it in, how do I become a Disney animator? You'll find out in a minute. Back then, as my kids call it, the olden days. In the olden days, right? There was no internet. The boomers, yeah. Right? So we had no way to find out. But what did I have? The most supportive mom in history.

My mom took me to Disney World. Not my older brother, not my twin sister, took me to Disney World, walking me around Disney World just to ask the Disney cast members, that's what they call their employees, how that her son could become a Disney animator. It was actually very embarrassing. We're getting on the, it's a small world boat ride, right?

We're stepping on the boat and the Disney lady's like, how many people in your party? And I'm like, two. My mom's like, by the way, my son wants to be a Disney animator. Can you help him? The lady's like, man, this is a boat ride. You know, we don't hire animators here. So we go through the boat ride, right?

It's a small world. So I just put that song in everyone's head. There you go. And after the boat ride, right? It's a small world. Oh, sorry. I just put that song in everyone's head. There you go. And after the boat ride, the lady says, look, if you want your son to work for the Walt Disney Studios, he's got to go to the Disney casting building. It was four minutes away from where we were in Disney World. So we go into this building and this building is unbelievable. I mean, it was magical.

The doorknobs look like the ones from Alice in Wonderland, the ones that speak, right? They were made out of bronze. I opened the doors. I walk into this atrium with this gold statues of Mickey, Donald, Pluto, Goofy, all the Disney characters. Even the air was like, I had a smell. There was like Disney air, like pixie dust in the air, you know? And I go there for the interview and the woman says, can I help you? I'm like, yeah, my name is Saul and I want to be a Disney animator. She says, well, we don't hire those here. I'm like, well, who do you hire? She goes, well, we hire people that work the rides, people that make the teacups spin around

or people that make the Dumbo ride go up and down, you know, that work in the parks. I'm like, that's not really my dream. She sees I'm discouraged. She goes, well, hold on a second. She walks out of her office, comes back in two minutes later and hands me a piece of paper. And I will tell you that piece of paper became the most valuable piece of paper I have ever held in my hands. Other than my wedding contract, of course, you tell my wife I said that. Okay. I will. Okay. You know what that piece of paper was? It was a list of eight schools, eight art colleges that Disney

recruits their artists from. And she said to me, if you want to be a Disney animator, you need to go to one of these schools. Boom, that was it. You go to a great restaurant, you taste an unbelievable dessert, creme brulee, tiramisu, whatever you like. Why do you think you can't make that at home? You can make it at home, but you're going to have to have one thing. You're going to have to have the recipe. Do you know how many times I meet people around the world and they come up to me and they have the clarity of what they want to accomplish? This is my dream. This is my goal. I want to be a better husband, a better wife. I want to be a better parent, not just career. You get a goal of where do you want to grow in life? Okay, you got the goal.

That's step one. You know what step two is? You better have the recipe. How are you going to accomplish it? Because without that, they're just dreams that are going to slip right through your fingers. Nothing. So that piece of paper was the recipe.

It was eight schools that Disney takes their artists from. So I ended up going to one of these schools in Columbus, Ohio, CCAD, the Columbus College of Art and Design. First day of school, I'm about to walk into my dorm room. I will never forget. My roommate had already settled his things and he wasn't there. And what did I notice? His bedspread? Mickey Mouse bedspread. Mickey Mouse telephone, Mickey Mouse clock, Mickey Mouse lunchbox, every Disney poster on the walls. It was literally Disney World in a room. I couldn't believe it. I see in the corner, he's got sketchbooks. I pick up one of the sketchbooks. He's not there. I'm looking at his drawings. Let's see how good he is. His drawings are all Mickey Mouse. There's hundreds of drawings of Mickey Mouse from every angle.

Even he had a sketchbook that said hands on it. I'm like, oh, hands. That's hundreds of drawings of Mickey mouse from every angle. Even he had a sketchbook that said hands on it. I'm like, oh, hands. That's one of the things my art teacher had me draw. Let's see how good he is. I open it up and all his hands, they have anatomical problems. There's only four fingers and they're white gloves. That's right. They're Mickey mouse hands. I'm like, this guy's like Mickey mouse crazy. Like what is the deal? Then he walks in the room. He sees I'm like, this guy's like Mickey Mouse crazy. Like, what is the deal? Then he walks in the room. He sees I'm looking at his work and, you know, I'm busted now. So I say to him, I'm like, hey, man, I'm sorry. And he looks at me and goes, how are you doing? Oh, God.

I said, I'm good. What's your name? He says, my name's Jason. But people call me Mickey Mouse Jason. I'm like, they call you what? He goes, Mickey Mouse. I'm like, I heard you. You have a Disney nickname. He's like, what? You don't?

I'm like, no, I don't. I get on the phone with my mom. I'm like, mom, I'm going to fit in an art school. I need Disney stuff. I mean, guys, I was surrounded by Disney nerds, everyone, Disney, everything. I felt intimidated. I was intimidated. I never drew Mickey Mouse before. One week later, a representative from the Walt Disney Studios comes to our school. He stands on the stage. He must have been 70 years old. One of the original animators from Sleeping Beauty from the 50s. He used to be friends with Walt Disney.

I mean, to me, it was like Disney himself on the stage. And he gets up on that stage, and he looks out to us, and he's going to tell us, what does it take to get into Disney? He says, before we start, let me just ask all of you. And let me tell you, this auditorium was filled with every freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior. He looks out to us and he goes, how many of you want to be Disney animators? Every hand went up. He goes, well, just so you know, the reality is out of the 500, 600 of you in this room, maybe, just maybe four of you

will ever work there. That's how competitive it is. And when he said that, I remember thinking one thing. I wonder who the other three are going to be. Because in life, you either believe in yourself that you can accomplish or you don't. And I mean deep down. Deep down, do we really believe in ourselves? Not what we post on Facebook or social media.

Not what we talk about. I mean deep down, do I really believe that I can grow? Do I really believe that I can have a marriage that's awesome? Do I really believe that I can be a good parent, that I can grow my career, that I can be a person that lives with humility and integrity? Do I really believe in myself? Well, at that point, I did believe in myself. And that's really how it began. I was finally in the right place, the right school. And I remember he said, if you want to work at Disney,

he said, we want to see a portfolio with no cartoon characters, no cartoon characters, no drawings of Mickey Mouse. I remember seeing my roommate, Mickey Mouse Jason, right? He was slouched in the back. Oh boy. And the guy said, if you want to work at Disney, you got to do drawings of people and humans and animals from life. That's it. Just like what my teacher had me draw. So that's what we would do. We would go to the zoo and we would go to figure drawing class. And that's what I ended up filling that portfolio with. And I was really on my journey. That is incredible. I love what you just said, because it's like Ford saying, right? Whether you think you can, you think you can't, you're right. And there's something really true about it, but there's also, it's really easy to get intimidated and start looking at, well, who am I to beat those people and the imposter

syndrome, et cetera. Right. So, so how, what do you think made the difference? Because again, it wasn't just Disney. Like you ticked all the boxes from DreamWorks and Netflix and Amazon. Well, first of all, right back then there was no DreamWorks. There was no Pixar. There was no Netflix. There was no, none of that even exists. Is that crazy? ThatWorks. There was no Pixar. There was no Netflix. There was no Amazon. None of that even exists. Is that crazy? That's great. There's no Wi-Fi.

You know what it was? I remember the first week in school, I met this guy named Andy. And he was by far, as a freshman, the best artist in the school. I thought he was the best because the guy never stopped drawing. And we became friends. And just me being friends with him made me a better artist because who we choose to be friends with actually affects who we become. Think about it. If you're a parent listening to this, when your kid's little, when they're like, I don't know, two years old, they're hanging out at the sandbox at the park with another kid you don't like, you know what you do to a two-year-old? You don't like who they're playing with? You basically lift up your

two-year-old and you can put them anywhere you want. When your kid turns 18, you can't do that. You could probably lift them maybe if you're lucky, but they're going to be friends with who they want to be friends with, right? Because why do we want them to be friends with the right people? Because we know that those values will become their values. Well, now we got to ask ourselves the question, who are we hanging out with? What are the values of the people that I spend my time with? Because those values will become my values. Andy's work ethic, his integrity, his discipline became my discipline.

I became a much better artist in sophomore year. I didn't think I was ready to get into Disney, but I wanted to go through the process. I got my drawings together, put them in a portfolio. I send them into Disney and I wait. A month goes by. I get a letter on Disney stationery. It's got that gold leaf Mickey embossed on the top corner. Like, wow, my name is typed on the front of this envelope. The Disney company knows I'm alive. It was amazing.

It was so cool. I open up the envelope. I got my mom on the phone. She's like so excited. And it says, Saul, thanks so much for sending your portfolio in, but you didn't make it. Okay. So I got rejected. Look, I didn't think I was going to get in the first time. I was happy. The Disney company knew I was alive. I took that letter. I put it up over my desk. People were coming into the dorm room like, wow, you're so lucky. Saul, the Disney company knows you're alive. It was awesome. Another year goes by. Andy and I are drawing all the time. I'm going to tell you one quick story. One day it was freezing in Columbus, Ohio. I mean, bitter cold, bitter, bitter cold. And we all went to the Columbus Zoo to draw animals. Must have been about 15 students.

It was a class thing. And we get to the zoo. The second we get there, we go into this Wendy's Cafe and it's freezing. So we go get hot drinks, coffee, hot chocolate, whatever. After a couple of minutes, Andy and I sharpen the pencils and we go over to these elephants and we draw elephants for 45 minutes. And this elephant is walking back and forth. It's the coolest thing, especially someone that's studying movement. When you watch an animal repeating the same motion, like that is like a gift. Like you draw that.

It's so exciting. So we're freezing and we're drawing. Afterwards, I get onto the bus. I'm showing Andy what I drew. He's showing me what he drew. I go up to one of the other guys. I'm like, hey, we never saw you at the elephants. What animals were the rest of you drawing? The guy looks to me and he goes, no, no, none of us ever left the cafe. Like, what do you mean you didn't leave the cafe? He goes, well, we couldn't leave. I said, what do you mean you couldn't leave? He goes, it was too cold. It was too cold. We couldn't walk out there. I remember thinking, those are the greatest words I've ever heard. I wanted to say to him, but I think you've told me many times your dream is to work at Disney. Oh, so you only have that

dream when it's easy, you mean? But when it gets difficult, you don't get out of your comfort zone. You know, everyone listening. What are you willing to do? Yeah, what are you willing to do? Everyone listening, think for a moment right now about anybody in life that inspires you. Maybe it's Michael Jordan. Maybe it's Steve Jobs. Maybe it's some couple you know in your community that they seem to have a perfect marriage. Do you know what they all have in common? One thing. They all push through pain. They push through struggle. They work at it. And if you have the mindset that something is going to be difficult, you know what we're able to do? We're able to look at pain a very different way and realize that we don't have to

go through pain. We get to grow through pain. Because if you don't go through that effort, you will never be great at anything. My son said to me the other day, he's like, dad, I want to try doing whatever it was. It was track and field. He's like, you think that'll be easy? I said to him, it depends how good you want to be at it. You want to be good at it? Yeah, it could be easy. Do you want to be great at it? It's going to take some work. Do you want to be awesome at it? Do you want to be the best in the world? And you're going to have to sweat. You're going to have to go through pain. How bad do you want it? All of us right now are living our lives. And there's one thing we all have in common. We can all grow. Let's say you're sitting right now listening to this and you're thinking,

you know what? Hey, my life's pretty good. It's pretty good. Why would you settle for good when it could be great? I hear some of you are thinking, you know what? My life is pretty great. You know what I would say? Why would you settle for great when it could be awesome? Wherever we are, we need to push more. We need to push more. How do we do it? It's going to take the struggle. So Andy and I get our portfolios. We put them together. He sends his in. I send mine in. And we wait. A month goes by. I was home in New York visiting my parents. I get a call and it's Andy. I'm like, hey man, what's up? He's like, Saul, you're not going to believe this. I'm like, what am I not going to believe? He goes,

I just got a call from the Walt Disney Studios. I'm like, yeah., what's up? He's like, sorry, you're not going to believe this. I'm like, what am I not going to believe? He goes, I just got a call from the Walt Disney Studios. I'm like, yeah. Andy goes, I got in. I go, you got in? You got the internship? That's amazing. Congratulations. He goes, but they didn't call you yet, did they? I'm like, no, but they could be trying to call me right now. I got to hang out. We didn't have a call waiting back then, right? The olden days. I hang up the phone and the company's not calling. I'm waiting. My mom comes in at that moment. What happened? I'm like, mom, Andy just got a call. She's pacing back and forth in the dining room, but they're not calling. So you know what I did? I picked up the phone and I dialed the company myself. Who does that? Well, I did. Because when there's something you want in your life,

you will do anything to get it. I grew up in New York and my hero was the greatest basketball player who ever lived. I'm standing next to the court, next to my brother. I must have been 12 years old, 13. Next to the game, next to the court before the game in Madison Square Garden. And Michael Jordan is 15 feet away from me, warming up, dribbling the ball, talking to two guys. I'll never forget it. I said to my older brother, I'm like, Jay, I'm going to go out there and meet Michael Jordan.

My brother's like, you're not going to walk out on the court. I'm like, I sure am. Before he could even blink, I walk out on the court and I look up to Michael Jordan. I'm crazy. I know. And I said to him, hi, Mr. Jordan. And he looks down at me and says, yo, how you doing? End quote. How cool is that?

Then he shook my hand. This one right here, guys. This one right, never watched. Still has the sweat from number 23. You know why I walked out there? Because when there's something you want in your life, you will do anything to get it. Nothing gets in our way. How bad do you want it? So I called up the head of Disney myself. I get him on the phone. I'm like, hi, my name is Saul. My dream is to be a Disney animator. And I'm waiting to hear about the portfolio. He goes, oh, Saul, I have your name on a list here. I'm like, really? And he goes, yeah, you didn't make it. I said, what? He goes, yeah, you didn't make it. I said, what about Andy? He goes, yeah, he made it. You didn't.

I was like, oh, okay. I hung up the phone and that was a bittersweet moment in my life. Sweet. I was happy for my best friend. Bitter. My dream was shattered. Let me tell you what I mean by shattered. You know where Andy's going? To Disney World. Do you know what they call Disney World, Alana? What do they call it? The happiest place on? Earth. Earth. Whoever came up with that name, like brilliant, right? Brilliant, yeah. They're basically telling all of us, you can be happy. You can live in Hawaii and be happy. You can live in Tel Aviv, Cabo, Mexico. But if you want to be happiest, the only place you can do that is Disney World. And Andy is going to sunny, beautiful Disney World, happiest place on earth. I'm going back to Ohio in the wintertime. Translation, the most depressing place on earth, gray skies freezing.

And I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed to be back at school. People were coming up to me, hey, Saul, where's Andy? Oh, he made it. You didn't. Oh, I became known as a failure. People saw me a different way. And it was really difficult, really difficult because everyone knew before that I was the guy that really wanted this. And now they knew I was the guy that didn't get it. And then I came up with a brilliant way to take that feeling of being a failure away. And everybody listening right now, you could forget everything I've said up until now. You could forget all of it. You want to walk out of here with one thing, one thing to change your life? Remember these words. If you ever feel like a failure in life, and you will because you're a human being, and we all fail along the way, that's life. But if you ever feel like a failure in life, and you will because you're a human being, and we all fail along the way, that's life. But if you ever feel like a failure, do what I did, and the feeling will go away in a second then I won't be let down. I will settle for a life of mediocrity. I'm not going to go for the great. I'll settle for the good. I'll just be an artist. I'll just try, but this is not for me. of us wakes up and we have a voice whispering to our ears, telling us that we can be great,

that we can change the world, that we have something unique to offer the world. And we get excited. The emotion starts going, but then we have this other voice, the shoulder devil that yells at us much louder than the shoulder angel. And the shoulder devil is telling us, who do you think you are? Your marriage is going to be average. You're going to be average. Your career is average. Your bank account's never going to grow. You're going to be just one of those average, mediocre people. That's your lot in life. And that, unfortunately, for most of us, is who we listen to. Yeah, it's for people like Michael Jordan, for people like Andy. That's not for me. That's what I listen to. And I gave up on the whole dream. And then

a week later, I see a third movie that changes my life. This movie is a true story about a guy who's five feet tall, short guy, doesn't have an ounce of athletic ability and wants to play football at Notre Dame. Do you know what movie it is, Alana? No. It's called Rudy. You ever heard of Rudy? This is an amazing movie. Anyone listening right now, hit pause, go watch the movie Rudy, come back.

And if you have kids over the age of 11 and you haven't showed them this movie, how dare you think of yourself as a good parent? This is an amazing movie for a family. Amazing movie to show your kids. It's called Rudy. And it's a true story. And his football dream is to play at Notre Dame University. If you were friends with Rudy Rudiger and you told him, dude, I hear you want to work at, you want to get into Notre Dame, but you're sure it's not going to happen. You know what he would have said to you? I'm going for it anyway.

And he said, we'll just see about that. And he tries to get into Notre Dame, gets rejected, tries a second time, rejected a third year, rejected. But if you look at the movie poster for the movie Rudy, it says, when people tell you dreams don't come true, tell them about Rudy. He gets in and tears are streaming down my face. I'm not a little choked up in the movie. I am crying because I'm seeing a true story about a guy that wasn't athletic, who got

his dream because of tenacity and hard work. And I vowed at that moment, I will never give up again. And then I called up Disney the next day. I get the guy on the phone. I go, hi, this is Saul. I go, Saul, I already told you, you didn't make it. I'm like, yeah, let me ask you a question. How close was I? He said, what do you mean? I'm like, well, how many interns did you pick? And how many portfolios did you get? And where was I? He goes, well, we got over 3,800 portfolios. We picked 17 for the internship and you made it to number 20. What? I'd only missed it by three.

Do you know how many times in our lives we could be so close to achieving a goal? We feel we're miles away and all we needed to do is push a little bit more. And then I asked him the million dollar question. Why did I not get in? What was I missing? You see, when we fail in life, we need to find out why. Because once you find out why, that is the answer key to growing. He said, you need more perspective in your drawing.

You know, give us a dynamic perspective. Stand on a stool and look down at a model. Or look up, go down low and look up. Give us something dynamic. I'm like, boom, answer key. I go back to my portfolio. I work on it excruciatingly difficult. I work till two, three in the morning every night on this thing. I don't go out to dinner. I don't go to any more movies. I just focus on one thing. This drawing is going to be my life. I will become the best that I could possibly be. And I get those new drawings in, I send them into Disney and I wait. And one day I got a call from Andy. I'm like, hey man, what's up? He's like, sorry,

you're not going to believe this. I'm like, what am I not going to believe? He goes, they built a brand new basketball court for the interns. You love playing basketball. You deserve to play on that court. I'm like, hey, that's so cool. Thanks, man. He goes, they also built a brand new studio, like a wing on the studio for the interns. You deserve to be there. I'm like, thanks, man. He goes, but there is one more thing. I said, what? He goes, they put up a piece of paper with a list of the next interns. I'm like, yeah. And he goes, you're on the list. I said, what? He goes, dude, you did it. I'm like, thank you. He's like, what are you thanking me for? You did it. I couldn't believe it. I hang up the phone. I go over to my tape player. Some of you listening may not know what tapes are. They play music.

And at the top of my lungs, it's the circle of life and it moves. I'm singing. People are coming into the dorm room, blink off, got in. I get to the phone. I dial my mom. Can you imagine how fast I dialed her? She can hear it in my voice. She's like, honey, did you do it?

I said, no, mom, we did it. Mom, you're the one that took me to Disney World. You're the one that supported me through all this. But guess what, mom? This winter, you can stay in New York because I'm going to the happiest place on earth. And I end up at Disney World, get picked up at the airport. They drive me to the Walt Disney Studios. I walk under a sign that says artist entrance. And I walk into a room that is not a big room. There's 15 desks in there, all wooden desks.

This is before computer animation. And in the corner is a desk. And on that desk is a nameplate, Saul Blinkoff, kid from New York. You know, everybody listening, I want you to walk away with something really clear. You are not hearing a story about a really talented artist that got his dream. That's not what this is. This is a story about one of the worst artists in the school. Because I'm telling you, when I started at that school, I was one of the worst. This is a story of one of the worst artists in the school who achieved his dream of working for the Walt Disney Studios. And I will tell you, at the end of the day, if I could achieve that, you could achieve a hundred times more. And remember these words,

nobody wakes up great at anything. Nobody wakes up great at anything. Whatever that goal is that you want to excel at, you think you're just going to wake up and be great at it? You think it's going to take a week, a month? What are you willing to put in? We always say in life, oh, God gives us gifts. Oh, he's gifted. He's talented. This person's a natural. You know what we like about those words? Those words make us feel good because we feel that that person didn't earn the gift. That person was given a gift. Oh, she's musical. He's an artist. He's talented. God gave him. He chose him. He didn't choose me. You know what a gift is? A gift is not what do we do well. The gift is, what are we interested in? What do I notice that someone else doesn't? What am I passionate about

that someone else isn't? The goal is to figure out what gifts we have. What does that mean? What am I interested in? And then go all in, invest. What discipline am I willing to partner with that gift? Because if you put that discipline in, your marriage is going to soar. Your parenting is going to soar. Your career is going to soar. And ultimately, your life will go from good to great to awesome. This is so amazing, Saul. Your story, I was almost crying in the middle. Oh, thank you.

Thank you. Which is amazing because you're right. I mean, it's never the challenges that stop you. It's always your beliefs around these challenges that stop you, right? Yeah. It's whether you're going to have. Well said, yeah. Right? And are you going to go into that victor mentality

or victim mentality? And it's your choice, but you get to choose. You get to choose. That's so profound. You're so right. And you somehow found this incredible life of calling, if I will, because it was not just ticking all the boxes, you know, in Disney, DreamWorks, Netflix, Amazon, but now you're taking all of this to, you know,

push people into their greatness, right? Yeah, that's right. That's right. How did you find that kind of a calling? When I look back at that time when I gave up on that dream and what I felt, I remember thinking, if I could work at Disney and I could sit at a desk drawing Mickey Mouse every day, I would be happy. Happy. That's the word. And for many of us listening, if you ask anyone, what is the goal of life? What are you trying to accomplish? Everyone would say, 99% of the world would say, I want to be happy. The problem is happiness is usually contingent on outside experiences. I will be happy if I get my

dream job. I will be happy if I could add a zero or two to my bank account. I will be happy if I meet my soulmate. Those things will make me happy. But the truth is, we should not be going for a life of happiness. There's something so much sweeter, and that is going for a life of meaning, a meaningful life. And what's a meaningful life? One thing. One thing. Waking up every day with a singular mindset to take responsibility for the world. What does it mean? It means look deep inside. What are my passions?

What are my abilities? What makes me unique? And how do I take all that, harness it, and invest it into creating something to change the world, impacting one human being. You know, the first guest I ever had on my podcast was the real Rudy Rudiger, the real Rudy from the movie. And I got to tell him what his movie meant to me, what his story meant to me. It's like the fifth episode I ever did.

It was the first interview I ever did on my podcast, Life of Awesome. But one of the most incredible interviews that I got to do was with the great boxer, Big George Foreman. This guy, heavyweight champion of the world twice, made $138 million the first year as the person who made the grill, the Foreman grill that made burgers. As a business entrepreneur, that would be a reason to get them on the podcast. So we go through this whole story. And at the end of the episode, and I urge all of you, listen to that episode, George Foreman, amazing. At the end of the episode, I asked him this question, George, what's the legacy you want the world to remember about

you? What do you want your children to remember about you? Without blinking an eye, he said one thing. I want people to know that I loved humanity, that I loved human beings, that when I walked down the street, I could smile and just make someone's day a little bit better. He didn't mention anything about money. He didn't mention anything about all his accomplishments in the ring. He said, I just want to impact humanity. You know, looking at the movie Lion King, that's really the greatest way to see this message.

If you look at Lion King, Simba in the beginning sings, I just can't wait to be king. He wants to be king. What, we all don't want to be king? Of course we want to be king. What does being king mean? I want the power. I want to be able to do what I want to do. Mufasa, his dad actually tells him in the beginning, Simba, there's more to being a

king than getting your way all the time. Sim, Simba, there's more to being a king than getting your way all the time. Simba's like, there's more? What can be better? And then something happens to dad, he dies. And Simba thinks he... By the way, if I just spoil this movie for any of you, the movie came out like 40 years ago. You deserve to have it spoiled. You should have seen it by now, okay? So his dad dies. Simba goes off and lives in Hakuna Matata world. You remember? Hakuna Matata. Remember that?

Right? You know what Hakuna Matata means? It means no worries. No worries. You know who wants a life of Hakuna Matata? All of us. All of us do. We want to live in Hawaii.

We want to go vacation. Who wants worries? And he goes off and lives in Hakuna Matata world. It's beautiful. It's colorful. He sleeps in a hammock, hangs out in a jacuzzi, right? He has everything, right? He could ever want. And then towards the end of the movie, Nala shows up, the little lioness from the beginning of the movie, and they start falling in love. Can you feel the love tonight? Right? They start rolling around, the sun is setting, then they decide to talk. And she's

like, Simba, it's good to see you, but you got to come back with me. He's like, no, no, no, I'm staying here. Hakuna Matata. No worries. Look where I live. She's like, maybe I didn't make myself clear. Scar, your uncle has taken over everything. And if you don't come back, everyone is going to die and you are responsible. Then you know what he says? Hakuna Matata, I'm staying right here. She's like, when are you going to grow up? When are you going to become the man, what lion, that you're supposed to be? She actually sings about it. She sings, why won't he be the king I know he is, the king I see inside? Each one of us has the potential for greatness.

We don't see it in ourselves. She sees it in him and she leaves him. He's left alone. Rafiki, the baboon, comes over, hits him in the head. He sees his reflection, sees his father's image in the clouds, and hears his father's voice, remember who you are. Simba goes back, defeats Scar, and Lion King becomes the biggest animated movie of all time, BF, before Frozen. Do you know why? Not because we love movies about lions, but because that movie gives us a taste of what greatness really is. You know what it is? Waking up with the mindset to take responsibility for the world. And what is responsibility? Wherever in life we have the ability to respond. Listen to that carefully. Response ability is wherever we have an ability to make a response.

So what does that mean? The best version of yourself, basically. Yeah. But that means like each. Things are bigger than you. That's right. And we have to see where can I make a difference that someone else can't? What pain, what trauma, what experiences have I had in my life that should make me sensitive

to someone else's life? Now I got to do something about it. And so, that really inspired me to think, you know what? Forget the fact that I'm at Disney and that's my dream. Can't just sit at a desk and draw Mickey Mouse all day. It's like, what are the stories I'm telling? So, I started writing. I started directing. I started putting the values that I try and live by into the stories that I tell. And I started speaking. 15 years ago, someone asked me into the stories that I tell. And I started speaking 15 years ago. Someone asked me to come speak at a university. I'm like, hey, I guess I could talk.

What would I talk about? They're like, you know, tell your story. I'm like, all right, if you think people find it interesting. I told the story. It was like 15 students in this little room. They came up to me afterwards. We really loved your story. We're inspired.

We're going to go for our dreams now. I'm like, oh my gosh, that's amazing. It gave me such a great fulfillment. So for the past many, many years, I've traveled the world sharing different tools for companies and organizations on leadership, storytelling, and ultimately how to live the best versions of ourselves, whether it's creating company culture, corporations, and it's really everything I do now, whether it's my animation career, I have a Disney show coming out in a couple months, whether it's the Disney show, whether it's the podcast Life of Awesome, or it's my speaking, or being a dad, or being a husband, all of it is how

do I make an impact? And ultimately, it's really how do I grow along the way? How do I become the best version of myself? That to me is a meaningful life. We got to grow because I hope people don't take this the wrong way, but this is the reality. The reality is one day we're all going to die. It's not morbid. It's reality.

Steve Jobs actually said it in an address at Stanford University. He goes, knowing that I will be dead one day is the best motivator now to accomplish. That's what he said. And it's true. All of us are will be dead one day is the best motivator now to accomplish. That's what he said. And it's true. All of us are going to die one day. What is our legacy we want the world to remember? What do we want our children to remember? Because ultimately, my kids, they're not going to be impressed that I worked on Pocahontas.

They're not going to care that I worked on Mulan. You know what they're going to want to know? Did my dad try to become a better human being? Did I try to grow as a human being? Did I try to grow as a human being? Did I try to limit how angry I get? Did I try to grow the humility? Did I try to grow my caring of another human being? That's really what life is all about.

How do I become the best version of myself? I heard a great rabbi once said something beautiful. He said, we're not human beings. We're human becomings. We're growing. We evolve. Who we choose to become along the way, that's up to us. He also said it this way.

He said, who we are is God's gift to us. Who we become is our gift to God. That's the question each one of us has to ask ourselves. Who do I want to become? I love that. Yeah. I want to ask all the audience, who do you want to become and what are you willing to do for it? So this was incredible, incredible, incredible. We're going to have all your links. You should follow on Instagram. You go to her website.

Absolutely reach out for speaking because this guy is incredible as you could hear. Thank you. So thank you. This was so inspiring. Thank you so much. And I just want to thank you, Alana, for having me. But I really want to thank your audience for tuning in and listening. And I really hope each of you leaves this interview listening more

to that shoulder angel, that one that encourages you that you can accomplish and think carefully about what your goals are in all aspects of life. And then think how you're going to accomplish it. What is that recipe to achieve it? And what's the pain that you get to grow through? What is that struggle? And are you really willing to put that in? Who will you surround yourself with? What will your friends be? Do you have a mentor? Think about it. When it gets really difficult, are you willing to push through? And ultimately think about how all these goals will not just help you impact humanity, but help you grow as a human being. Because that's really what life's all about. And we're running out of time. So you have to

ask ourselves, what am I waiting for? And ask yourself right now, what are you waiting for? Do it today. Not in a week. Do it today. Believe in yourself. Believe in yourself. Believe what you can accomplish. And if you do that, like I said earlier, life will go from good to great and great to awesome. And if you want to follow me, I'm on Instagram, Saul.Blinkoff. It's S-A-U-L.Blinkoff. I put out lots of videos of me with my family and me sharing life wisdom on marriage and parenting and just life, how to appreciate life. And also, that's on Instagram. You can go to my website, saulblinkoff.com, and you can see everything I'm doing with

the speaking, the podcast links are there. It's on Apple. It's on Spotify. It's all over. But I really appreciate the opportunity to share and to connect with you guys. And I'm really good in DMing and Instagram. So if anyone wants to connect, you know, please reach out.

Excited to meet you. And again, Alana, thank you so much for having me. Wishing you continued success in every endeavor. Thank you. And it's always a pleasure. Always, always amazing to hear you.

Thank you for listening and hope you enjoyed the show. Don't forget to subscribe, follow, share this with friends. I'll see you in the next Leap Show.