Show Notes

Welcome back, dreamers. You know the deal. This is the Disney Magical Mindset Podcast. My name is Ruben, your Disney Magic Mentor, where I get to help you live the magic every single day. And today we’re talking about one of the most popular Disney movies of all time, aladdin. Released in 1992 during the legendary Disney Renaissance era, it gave us unforgettable characters Princess Jasmine, the genie Jafar.

But today I want to focus on the underdog himself, aladdin. Today we’re diving deep into a powerful truth. Failure is not the full story. Oh, I need you to hear that again. Failure is not the full story. Aladdin teaches us that our past doesn’t disqualify us. Oh, my goodness. It prepares us and positions us for greatness. His story isn’t just about wishes and magic carpets. It’s about discovering who you truly are and stepping into greatness. So let’s dive in, and I’ll warn you now, this episode might just change the way you see yourself on a magic carpet ride. Here we go.

Aladdin’s story resonates with us because, let’s be real, we’ve all felt like him at some point. He wasn’t born into wealth or royalty. He didn’t have status or power. He was just trying to survive, scraping by on the streets, believing in the lie that he was less than that he’d never be more than a street rat, that he would never amount to anything. And how many times have we told ourselves something similar? I’ll never be successful. I’m too messed up to chase my dreams. I’m not smart enough, good enough, talented enough. It’s too late to start again. Look at what they have. I’ll never have the things that they do, constantly comparing ourselves to others, feeling like we’ll never make it or we’ll never be able to do what we set out to do. Right, all those things, man I am, so it breaks my heart that we believe into this lie that shapes our identity and tries to tell us something about ourselves that is not true. Here’s the thing. I need you to hear this loud and clear. I might have to say it a couple times or you may have to repeat after me your biggest setbacks can become your greatest setups. Yes, yes, yes, oh, my goodness, this is too good. Your messes in life can become your greatest masterpieces. So, rather than running from them, I want to show you, like aladdin, the way they make us who we are and become part of our story, that impact the rest of our story and allow us to use that story to help someone else in need this. This is too good. Oh, my goodness. Aladdin teaches us so many great things.

I want you to think of Aladdin right now, sitting there on the rooftop. Do you see him staring at the palace, longing for more? Haven’t you been there before? You long for more. You look at your life where it’s at right now and you know there’s something greater. You just believe it. It’s in you. You’re not really content where you are and so you see so much more.

But here’s what often happens like that more when you look at your dreams, you start thinking it’s too far away, or there’s no way I can get there, or it’s impossible, and you start defeating yourself before you even step out to do what you know you can do. It’s in you, and this happens so many times. I’m so tired of us shying away from the things that we really want to do and that we believe we can do, because in our minds we see something that’s so far away and we think we can never attain it. But I want you to know you can. Yes, you can. It’s not just for Aladdin, it’s not just for Aladdin, it’s not just for Jasmine. Those things, those beautiful things about your future, aren’t far away and they’re not things that are just meant to deter you from chasing after the thing that you really want and need. I want you to know it’s within your reach because you have it in you. Okay, I just need to take a little breather. Can you take a deep breath with me? Yeah, and here’s the turning point for Aladdin. Here’s where it begins to change, and this is where it’s going to change for you, right?

Because Aladdin got his chance thanks to a very energetic, blue, wish-granting friend. You ain’t never had a friend like me, right? But notice something Wishing alone didn’t change him. At first, he thought he had to become Prince Ali, this fake version of himself, to be worthy, but that wasn’t what made him a hero. Pretending to be someone else only made things worse. And I’ve seen this happen because it’s happened in my own life where we try to become someone that we’re not, or we try to be like someone else, right? Because we think that if we’re like them, that people will like us. If we’re like them, then we’ll get ahead. And here’s what we have to understand you can never get to the place that you’re going by being somebody that you’re not. It wasn’t until Aladdin embraced who he truly was imperfections and all that. He stepped into his destiny. It was this Aladdin, like the real, authentic Aladdin that Jasmine fell in love with, not the Prince Ali and all the fake stuff. I’m telling you, people want the authentic real. You, you know, the one with the scars, the one with the imperfections, the one with the failures. Here’s what you have to understand. Ooh, this is so powerful.

Your messed up life is what qualifies you to change people’s lives. You know, we often think that because of our past mistakes or our failures, then we can’t help others. Or why would someone want to listen to somebody like me who’s done some things or who has made mistakes? And it’s exactly those mistakes that qualify you to speak into someone’s life, man, and this is probably one of the hardest things, isn’t it? Because no one likes to be a failure or no one likes to make mistakes or to admit that we’re wrong.

And I know, for me, I look back on my life and I have moments, you know, when you think about the past, or moments when you reflect on some areas of your life that you were, you know, upset about or you felt bad about and you don’t even want to revisit. But every now and then I have to remind myself when they pop up. I’m like you know what? Yeah, I don’t like it, it’s uncomfortable sometimes, but I realized that those failures did not define my future, that those failures, if anything, they gave me power or they empowered me one to learn and to grow. And now, as a result of those things, I’m better because of it and I can help someone else because of my story, because of my past, because of my mistakes. And so, instead of running, I’m just.

I’m trying to tell you, like Aladdin, let’s just be who we are, let’s embrace who we are truly meant to be, not somebody else. Take off that Aladdin or Prince Ali clothes and put on the one that fits you. Remember this the thing we’re most afraid of to reveal is often the key to our purpose. So you gotta discover and uncover. What are you afraid of? Why are you afraid to let somebody know who you truly are? Why are you trying to hide something about yourself? Because this is so telling and so revealing. And once you identify what that is, I’m telling you that is one of the secrets to unlock your purpose to live the life that you are meant to live, not someone else’s life, your life. Please hear what I’m about to say.

Your struggles, your failures, your imperfections they don’t make you weak. They make you relatable, human and supremely qualified to do great things. In fact, we think they make us weak our failures, imperfections, you know, and struggles. But in reality, when we acknowledge them, when we express them, when we learn from them and we use those things to help someone else, you know what they make you and me. They make us strong, just like Aladdin. It wasn’t until he came clean to Princess Jasmine, by embracing his imperfections and not hiding them right, by becoming his true self, that he was actually truly able to experience love and become the prince he was always destined to be. See, that’s the thing he didn’t need. He finally got to the place where he didn’t need someone else to tell him he was a prince. He knew inside who he was. Aladdin didn’t win in life because he had a genie. I mean, it’s always great to have friends and people who support you. That’s important. He won, though, listen, because he finally believed in himself.

What you perceive about yourself is what you believe about yourself. You can put on a face or act a certain way for the rest of the world, but you can’t lie to yourself when it comes to these things. Deep inside, you know what’s true about you, and the sooner you start being real about who you are and embrace those failures and mistakes instead of running from them, is when you begin to live a whole new world. Yes, come on, let’s do this. So here’s the big question how dangerous would you be if you actually knew how great you were? Yes, come on, I want you to tell yourself. I want you to say I am great. Yeah, I was born for greatness. I want to say that again. I want to ask that question again how dangerous would you be if you actually knew how great you were? Aladdin didn’t become a prince because of magic. He became one because he owned his story.

Don’t underestimate your story. It’s a powerful one. I’m telling you your book life, remember. You’re not defined by your first, second or third chapter. You know, like chapter two or three that was filled with failures. Yeah, that’s part of your story, but it’s not your future, because it’s those chapters that lead to your victory. And you listen, you don’t need a genie, you don’t need to be perfect. You just need to believe that everything you’ve been through the struggles, the setbacks, the failures don’t disqualify you. They prepare you. They prepare you for victory. They prepare you for greatness. Because the truth is, if you’re not failing, you’ve probably stopped dreaming and you’ll eventually stop learning and you’ll stop growing. Don’t ever forget this Failure is often the tuition for success.

Yeah, I don’t like to fail. I’m not gonna leave this podcast and and rejoice and be like, yeah, I failed, like no one expects that. But here’s what we do expect. Here’s what I want you to expect and embrace in your life. Yeah, just understand, if you’re gonna succeed and you’re gonna go after that dream and you’re gonna see that vision, remember the palace on the horizon. You see things that others can’t see. You got to go for it. And just remember that failure is often the tuition for success. So expect failure. It’s going to be a part of life. But here’s what you do you debrief after you fail so it becomes a learning experience, and then you grow from that experience. And then guess what? Then you tell somebody else about what you’ve experienced through your failure, so they become better as a result. And then we help others.

And here’s what you never know. You never know how your story you know the one that you share with others. That actually reveals some of those areas of life, like the struggles, the hardships, the failures. You just never know how your story impacts and changes someone else’s life because of what you’ve been through. See, that’s what I want you to remember and don’t ever forget. It’s just so powerful. Your life, like your life, failures and your past, doesn’t disqualify you from helping others change. It actually empowers you and equips you to help others change because of what you’ve been through. The messes in your life and in my life are exactly what qualify us to change someone else’s life. Isn’t that beautiful? Isn’t that beautiful how our messy stories can actually turn into beautiful masterpieces that help others along the way.

People don’t want to follow someone who’s always right. They want to follow someone who’s always real. They want someone who’s been through the fire and came out stronger. That’s your story, that’s my story, that’s my story, and when you begin to include it in your book, man, you just never know how that changes someone else’s life. Don’t ever underestimate the power of your story. I promise you it’s amazing. You just have to believe it. How amazing your story is, yes, with all that stuff that make us who we are, but it’s a beautiful story. I hope you’ll begin to believe it and embrace it.

So here’s my challenge for you this week what’s one dream you’ve been putting off because you think you’re not enough or you’re not good enough? Write it down. What’s one lie you’ve been believing about yourself? Call it out, remember, capture the lie. Don’t throw it or put it into your cavern. Do you remember the Little Mermaid? You’re going to set it off and set it free and replace it with the truth. You were born for something great. I am born for something great. I am born for something great. I am going to make this dream happen. I am going to accomplish this goal.

And when it comes to failure, yeah, name that failure. Yeah, I know it’s uncomfortable, you might have to take some time to write down that thing, that mistake. You know that failure, that past. That’s kind of bothering you. Yeah, write it down and then spend some time reflecting on how you can grow from it, what you can learn from it. Right, and just remember that, once you do that, believe that your story from the past actually empowers you to be able to change someone else’s life in the future, and your life too, because your failure and my failure is what leads to our victory when we’re able to embrace it, learn from it and grow from it. It makes us stronger. Right, our weakness actually makes us strong.

And lastly, what’s one small action you can take today Not tomorrow, not next year today, what are you gonna do today to embrace your story, your full story? What are you gonna do today to stop trying to be Prince Ali or Jasmine or your favorite you know Disney influencer right, or your neighbor, or the people that you see on TV? No, who are you? What are you going to do today to step into you, the authentic, authentic, amazing, awesome, beautiful, spectacular, cool, like all of it? You? Are you willing to take the necessary steps to be the best version of you, to keep growing, to keep expanding, to keep learning and lead a full, happy, beautiful life? When you do these things, that’s when your identity changes Actually, that’s when you become your authentic, real self. So go for it.

I’m here to cheer you along the way, pump you up and just sprinkle as much pixie dust as I can on you, because you are the magic, because the magic is in you. The world needs your magic, my friend. The world needs your story. It’s time to take your first step toward your own magic carpet ride A whole new world. Are you ready for it? Are you ready for this whole new world that is yours? If this episode resonated with you, send me a message on Instagram at Disney Magic Mentor and let me know what’s the thing you’re finally going to step into. And if you love this episode, share it with a friend who needs to hear this story. I would so much appreciate if you left a review and just help me spread this magic, this magical mindset, this joy of Disney. It would mean so much to me. Until next time, keep dreaming, keep believing and remember. Keep dreaming, keep believing and remember. You don’t need a genie, although it’s kind of cool if you did, because, guess what? The magic of the genie is already inside you.