Back in the days when Walt Disney started to make animated cartoons, there were a lot hurdles to overcome. Each animated second was made up of 24 hand-drawn images. Each image takes a long time to draw, which makes drawing a minute of animation into a multi-day project. If he wanted to change even the slightest thing, chances were he had to redo all the drawings.
One day a reporter asked Disney how he managed to make so many good animations while the process took so much time. Disney explained to him that he used a simple 4 step process before he would even let his pencil touch the paper. This process is where Disney’s creativity started and would take form.
Circle of Disney
What Disney referred to is a process that has been dubbed the Circle of Disney, in honor of his name. The process involves 4 steps, which are taken in a circle. This means you actually walk around the room when using this technique. The positions on the circle each have their own actions.
Step 1
In the first step, you try to visualize what you are thinking of. Disney would describe this as sitting in the theatre, watching his own movie as though it had already been created. An important part of this step is to tilt up your head slightly and to look outward of the circle. Then form a moving image of your idea, closing your eyes if that helps.
Step 2
After visualizing the movie, Disney would go to step 2 where he would act out what he envisioned. In this step it is important to also face outward and to tilt your head down a bit. Use your hands and really physically act out what you envisioned. How does it feel, how does it behave, what motions do you use.
Step 3
This step involves reflecting on the other two steps. Here you face inward, as though you’re observing yourself in the other two steps. Think about what was good and what can be improved.
Step 4
The last step involves telling yourself what you’ve experienced and give yourself positive feedback:
- Compliment – what I saw you do and what I thought was good; step by step
- Tip – what I would do differently next time
- Conclusion – what the impact of the tip would be, it would certainly be better
You then repeat the entire process again, step 1 through 4. This allows you to very quickly improve your idea without actually having to physically build anything, or design it on the computer. The reason this approach works is that it isolates the systems we were born with to interpret the world: visual, auditory and kinesthetic. The last step involves the isolation of a learnt system; analysis.
Try this at home!
I have used this process in many different situations; when developing a concept, during my photography and even when I setup this blog. My business partner used a subset of this process to envision himself managing big projects; he thought he might succeed in 10 years. After 2 years, he had succeeded in managing a near seven figure project. Try this process, it might take a few practice runs, but it is definitely worth it!
Wed, Jul 15, 2009
Self Improvement