Disney Magical Mindset Podcast

What Woody & Buzz Teach Us About Comparison

• Ruben R. Rios • Episode 72

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 21:09

In a world constantly asking us to compare, compete, and measure our worth by success, it’s easy to feel like someone else winning means we’re falling behind.

But what if their success wasn’t meant to discourage you, what if it was meant to inspire you?

In this episode of the Disney Magical Mindset Podcast, we'll explore the powerful lesson hidden inside Toy Story, Woody’s struggle with comparison, and Walt Disney’s perspective on competition and success.

Because bitterness drains creativity, but encouragement, gratitude, and believing in possibility keep the magic alive.

If you’ve ever felt overlooked, behind, or discouraged watching others succeed, this episode is your reminder that someone else’s magic doesn’t diminish yours, it reminds you what’s possible. 

Helping you reimagine what's possible and step into it! 

Welcome To Disney Magical Mindset

Ruben

Hey Reimagineers, welcome back to another episode of the Disney Magical Mindset Podcast. My name is Ruben, and I'm so glad you're here because we use Disney stories, Walt Disney history, and Disneyland lessons to help you silence the villain in your mind so you can become the hero of your story. And today we're talking about something almost everybody struggles with, especially in today's world. Comparison. Yeah. And I know I've talked about this before. In fact, I'm sure there are a couple episodes that are dedicated to comparison, but I feel it's one of those things that we have to be reminded of. We got to come back to often because it's so easy to fall back into the trap of comparison. You know, watching other people succeed, watching someone else get notice, watching someone else get the opportunity that you wanted, and suddenly feeling like maybe you're falling behind. And so if you felt like that recently, I want you to know like this this episode's here to encourage you and and to remind you of something so important today because I know what that's like sometimes. I think we all know, we all resonate with this because you scroll social media and someone else is growing faster, or someone else got invited to the event, someone else got the dream collab, or someone else is buying the house or writing the book or building the business. They're getting recognized. And if we're not careful, their success can start

Why Comparison Hits So Hard

Ruben

making us question our own value. And that's the part like that that causes us to like sink to a place that you and don't want to be, right? Where you're starting to measure your success or your value that you bring and that you offer this world by looking at someone else and and what they do and and the things that that that they bring. And listen, here's the truth. You've got to remember today, someone else winning does not mean you're losing. Ooh, my goodness. Their success is not blocking your future. There is not a shortage of wins. I love that the wins are are out there. There's a lot of other wins. You know what I mean? There's not a shortage of them. There's there's opportunities. There's not a shortage of the opportunities. And and and I love this part because we love Disney and we love the magic. There's not a shortage of magic, there's magic galore, there's magic that is endless. There's so much out there. In fact, sometimes, and I think we forget this, that another person's success is proof that what you're dreaming about is possible. So when you see someone else succeed, it's like amazing. Like, look at what's possible. Look at what they've done. Like, look at what happens when you celebrate somebody else's success. There's something that it does to you. Like it does something to your mind, to your heart, and it positions you to prepare yourself for the opportunity that can come your way by actually celebrating instead of getting hurt or upset or angry. You know what I mean? And and today I want to really help us understand this. And I can't think of a better way to really bring this lesson out than to look at one of our favorite Pixar stories and movies, I'm sure, is the original. I mean, it goes all the way back to Toy Story. So are you ready? Cuz here we go. Think

Toy Story Lesson On Worth

Ruben

about the first Toy Story for a moment. Woody was confident. He was Andy's favorite toy. He knew his role, he knew his value, and then Buzz Lightyear shows up. You remember that part? And suddenly Buzz gets all the attention. Buzz gets the applause. Buzz becomes the exciting new thing. Buzz has the aura, um, using the words of my daughter. You know, like everything's about Buzz and what happens to Woody. I mean, he starts measuring his worth against someone else's spotlight. And and don't we do the same thing at times? It's so easy to do. We can be doing just fine, feeling grateful. And we're like confident, it's like a great day, you know? And then somebody else succeeds in the exact area that we care about, and suddenly the villain in our mind starts talking, and that's the one we're gonna silence. Doesn't that happen? You know, and we start saying things like, Well, why not me? They're ahead of me. I'm getting overlooked. I've been in doing this for so long, and and look at what's why are they getting noticed and not me? Uh maybe I'm not enough. Maybe I missed my chance. But Woody's real problem wasn't Buzz. And and this, there's always something that lies deeper. It's never the surface, right? You always got to go below. And so it looks like Buzz is the issue or the problem for Woody, but it's really not. It's it's actually fear. If you strip it all away, it was fear that someone else shining somehow meant that that he mattered less. That was the fear. That somehow, because Buzz is shining, now I'm not good enough for Andy. Like, you know, now you start questioning your worth and who you are, right? And and what you bring and and what you mean. And that's what comparison does. It makes us forget who we already are. It like erases and minimize and eliminates everything that you've done up to this point. And you can't do that. Like, you can't do that to yourself because there's so much in you that sometimes we miss it, man, because we're so focused on someone else's um spotlight, right? And and it's like we can't, man. And I'm just here to encourage you and continue to motivate you and just remind you that's what comparison does. It makes you forget who you already are. So there's this line in Toy Story where Buzz and Woody are having this conversation together, and Woody says something that is so striking, but it's it's so moving, and yet I think it's something that we all resonate with. He he says, as he tells Buzz, why would Andy want to play with me when he's got you? Oh, it's like so crushing, right? It just gets you. Why would Andy want to play with me when he's got you? And underneath, remember that's what we're talking about, because there's something deeper. That line is insecurity, it's fear, it's competition. But eventually, it's what I love about these different chapters of our lives. Like we're where you gotta keep going. You can't just stop at chapter one, two, right? Woody has so many more chapters that are written on his story because he he he learned something so powerful. He learns that Buzz winning didn't mean that Woody was losing. It finally hits him that there was room for both of them. The amigos, the brothers. Like, you know, there was there was room for both of them to to shine and experience the love of Andy, right? Like you see that, and it's so refreshing and it's so encouraging, and it's such a powerful lesson that I think a lot of people probably miss. That someone else succeeding does not take away your purpose. Their gifts don't cancel yours, their story doesn't erase yours. There's room, there's always room for more than one person to shine. Because here's the thing it's gonna happen anyway. They're gonna shine anyway, whether you like it or not, whether you get upset about it or not, right? It's it's going to happen. So, my thing is like, let's embrace that there's magic for everyone, there's room for the light to shine on everybody, and that this is the most one of the most powerful takeaways from this beautiful movie.

Disneyland And Your Unique Lane

Ruben

And I think that Disneyland actually teaches this really well. My favorite park, all right? I know you you might have your favorite, and you know, mine's is Disneyland, the park that Walt walked in, and I get to go there often. I'm so grateful. But there's some powerful lessons even there that tie into this um magical mindset that we're talking about today. Because I want you to think about walking through Disneyland. Think about think about the different lands, and you might have a favorite land, mine's is fantasyland, but here's the thing: Fantasyland doesn't compete with Adventureland. And Tomorrowland doesn't try to become New Orleans Square. Galaxy's Edge doesn't erase Main Street. They're all different lands with a different purpose, and they all shine in their most beautiful, unique ways, right? Each land has its own story, its own atmosphere, its own music, its own purpose. And because each land embraces what makes it unique, guess what happens? The entire park becomes more magical, and that's why we love it, or one of the reasons why we love it. And there's such a powerful lesson for us that your magic was never supposed to look exactly like everybody else's. But comparison tries to convince us otherwise. And social media especially can magnify this. You know this, which is why we need social media breaks. You need this for your mind, your soul, for your heart. Because now we don't just compare ourselves to the people around us, we compare ourselves to thousands of people every single day. Now, think about what that does to you mentally and emotionally. That you go from comparing yourself to a few people to now it's thousands or hundreds, whatever it is, the people that you follow on social media in one single day, depending on how long you you spend with it, right? And I think for a lot of people, you know, you spend a lot of time. In fact, statistics show how much we spend on our phones. You know, spending on their highlight reels, their follower counts, their opportunities, their achievements, the amount of views that they get. And if we're not grounded, we start confusing visibility with value. And that's what happens with Woody and with Buzz, right? This is it's exactly the same thing, but visibility is not the same thing as purpose. There are people with huge platforms who are exhausted, I'm sure of it. People who who have huge platforms who are burnt out and empty and they're anxious, which reminds me of something powerful that Walt Disney said that hit me deeply. When I

Visibility Is Not Value

Ruben

read this, I was like, wow. And he says this success often demands a big price. In my case, it nearly ruined my health. Walt had to go, you he went to the doctor, and the doctor said, Walt, you've you've got to let up on some things, you've got to take some breaks, you gotta cut back on the hours because it's killing you, Walt. The success is is is destroying your health. And think about it. This is Walt Disney, a man millions admired, a man who built Disneyland, the place that we love, that I love so much, a man who changed storytelling forever, and yet even Walt admitted success nearly broke him. And that's important because sometimes I think we chase success, believing that it will finally make us feel enough. But success without peace, success without joy, success without purpose can become another prison. And so just because you you see people who are successful or you're striving for success, if you're not successful in your heart, if you're not successful with the peace inside your soul, then what does all that amount to? Right? It amounts to nothing. What's the purpose? What's the point of that if you can't even feel the success in your heart? Like becoming a better human inside, like finding the peace, the joy, like your purpose in your life. Like that's what I'm talking about. So let's not get, you know, um, let's not confuse success and make it so that I know the way it feels, because we we measure success by the amount of followers and the likes, and we measure success by the amount of things that we do and and what we have, and and it's so easy to do. And our culture does the same thing, it asks the same questions. What have you achieved? What do you do? What makes you valuable? And what happens is a lot of us start tying our worth to success, to work, relationships, or achievements, or recognition. So when things don't go the way we hoped, we either push harder, trying to prove ourselves, or we shrink inward with shame, discouragement, and self-doubt. All because we're trying to measure our value and worth by what someone else says or does or thinks.

Stop Worshiping Success

Ruben

You know, I came across this incredible story from Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk, and he's a writer who was once asked to contribute to a book about none other than success. And his response, it shocked me. I mean, it was like, whoa, wow. And he basically said, I spent my life trying to avoid success. Now, obviously, he wasn't saying don't work hard or don't pursue your dreams. What he meant was don't worship success, don't let that be the thing that drives you or let that be the thing that you go after. You just want to be successful, right? Don't build your identity around applause. Because if your identity, if your identity depends on being ahead of everyone else, you'll never truly rest. And if your identity depends on the applauses, then what do you do when the applauses turn to like people who are criticizing you and the applauses turn to people who are trying to hurt you? You know what I'm saying? Like, what do you do then? That's that's why there will always be, you gotta remember this, somebody doing more. There will always be somebody growing faster, winning bigger. And so you have to anchor your life deeper than comparison because it's false, man. It takes you to places that are just deceiving. And and Walt Disney, he gives us this healthier version of ambition. And

Walt Disney On Work And Competition

Ruben

I love this. This is so powerful from Walt. I'm trying to bring this all together for us because here's what Walt says people often ask me the secret of success, and my answer is this you do it by working. Imagine you're going to Walt Disney for this, you're trying to get the question of all questions, and you're like, Walt, you have been so successful. I've seen what you have done. Can you please give me your secret? What do I do? And Walt responds by saying, You do it by working. Oh my goodness. Thank you, Walt. I love that. There's no shortcuts, there's no magic formula. I know we think there is, there's no overnight success. It's showing up consistently, learning, creating, failing, and then getting up and trying again. And then there's another quote that really stands out for me, uh, to me from Walt Disney. And he says, This I've been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn't know how to get along without it. I want you to notice that Walt didn't become bitter about competition. It was like he he welcomed competition because it sharpened him, it inspired him, it pushed him creatively. And perhaps today, that's the healthier way to look at someone else's success. Can we reframe it in a different perspective? I want to help you reframe it today in the positive. All right. When you look at other people's success, I want you to reframe it. I want you to see how this healthy competition, if you want to use the word competition, actually strengthens you. That's I I think that's really what Walt was saying here. And instead of why them, it's I want you to ask a different question. What does their success show me is possible? Instead of always complaining that it's not you, and and you're wondering, like, why is it only them? Maybe ask the question: what does their success show me is possible? When I look at them, I'm like, I know they didn't get there overnight. I know this didn't just magically happen. What's their blueprint? What did they do to do what they're doing today? And I promise you, there is, I know we think there's a magic formula. There isn't. It's a blueprint that everyone follows to get to where they're going from point A to point B. And this kind of mindset, when you start reframing it and you're looking at people that you admire, and and you're looking at people who are like crushing it, like, and you're like, man, that's amazing. Look at what they're doing. Like, how do I do that? Because it's possible because they're they're showing us that it is. You see, and that changes everything because jealousy, you know what it does, it shrinks you, but inspiration expands you. You you have one mindset that'll say, Well, there's not enough room, right? And then you have another one that says, if it happened for them, maybe it can happen for me too. You see, like how it just flips things and it changes things. And I really believe, I really believe celebrating others is a power move. Like when you celebrate someone else, what you're doing is you're like, Yeah, there's enough magic, there's enough light for everybody. When you celebrate other people, it's such a power move, it's such a flex. It really is, man, because I'm not talking about fake celebrating. I'm not talking about we're just pretending. I mean genuinely learning how to clap for people while still trusting your own journey. There's something freeing and powerful about that, man, because bitterness drains creativity and gratitude and encouragement. You know what it does? Those things keep your heart alive. Something happens, and that's where we got to go. We got to continue to do that. And I've seen this especially in Disney communities. The creators who inspire the most people usually aren't the ones constantly competing. I love that. I mean, I believe that's the case. What I see is like the ones who are crushing it and doing their thing, I mean, they're not worried about competition because they're like, they're confident who they are. And there's a reason why we enjoy their content because like it does something to us too, right? They're they're the ones that are sharing magic, encouraging others, building people up, creating joy. And that energy always comes back around. It always does. It always

Their Castle Does Not Cancel Yours

Ruben

does. So if you've been struggling with comparison lately, if somebody else's success has been making you question yourself, I want to remind you today as we wrap up. I want to remind you of this. Their castle does not cancel yours. Woo! Come on, say that out loud. Their castle does not cancel mine. Mm-hmm. Say it again. Say it like loud. You're proud, like wherever you are. Someone else's castle does not cancel mine. You need to, like, that's a great motto. Great mantra to just remind yourself that your timeline is different, your story is different, your purpose is different, and it's a powerful story. Like your life story is powerful with everything that you've got and you've experienced and all the stuff that we go through, right? The highs, the lows, the ups and downs. It's your story, and it's a powerful, beautiful one.

Build Forward Brick By Brick

Ruben

So instead of obsessing over where someone else is, I want you to focus on the next brick that you need to lay. All right? I mean, you may not even be at the castle quite yet, but you see it. And what will get you there is to remember that you can't get there by obsessing over someone else's castle. You have your own castle to build, and you do it brick by brick, just like Walt Disney. Before Disneyland existed, before the success, before the legacy, there was just a man carrying what seemed like an impossible vision. Brick by brick, idea by idea, step by step. And that's, my friends, that's how meaningful things are built, not by constantly looking sideways, but by continuing to build forward. So today, celebrate somebody, encourage somebody, be inspired by somebody, and then go back to building your own magic because there's so much in there. Remember, there's so much magic out there, but you've got a lot in there inside you as well to offer. Because someone else's success doesn't diminish yours. You know what it does? It reminds you what's possible. Yeah. I want to thank you so much for joining me on this episode of the Disney Magical Mindset Podcast. It means the world that you take time out of your busy day to experience some magic. And I'm so thankful for you. Okay? Remember, remember always to keep dreaming, to keep believing, to keep building, to keep reimagining what's possible, and to remember, remember always, you are the magic because the magic is in you.