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2025 Update: this is one of the oldest and most popular posts on this blog – so I left it pretty much unchanged. But since I wrote it, I did many other explorations, so I added a few extra links to more recent content after some of the paragraphs. Enjoy.
I haven’t yet met a single person who doesn’t love the Dumbo cartoon. I confess I didn’t know that cartoon until I bought it for Bianca, my 3 year old daughter and she is the one responsible for making me watch it for so many times even when I’m not quite in the mood.
In today’s post I’ll share my discoveries about how Dumbo, the tiny little elephant with huge ears can help you discover your greatest power, improve your self-respect and become the person of your dreams. If you smiled while reading this, it’s ok, it means we’re actually getting there. 🙂 Personal development is not always a serious, rigid and rigorous process. It really can be a joyful and enjoyable adventure. In fact, if doing something is not at least a little bit of fun, I usually don’t do it.
The Dumbo Story
Dumbo is a little and cute elephant born in a circus somewhere in Southern Florida. He’s in every aspect identical with all other elephants in the world, except for one fact: Dumbo has huge ears. And I mean, really really huge ears. So big that it soon began to be mocked around by kids who constantly tease the little cub. In a matter of days it became the number one subject of the gossip in the circus.
One day, the kids who were attending the show become so violent with teasing Dumbo, that his mother, in a very normal, parental attempt to protect its child, started hitting them. The circus manager put her in isolation, and from that moment Dumbo is all alone. The little elephant is forced to play in a dangerous circus act in which it has to jump in a bucket filled with water from a house on fire. One night after this show, a little mouse came to Dumbo’s place and they became friends. The little mouse talked with Dumbo trying to cheer him up and even took it to see its mother in the isolation wagon.
Once they’re back from Dumbo’s mother, they’re drinking some water from a bucket in which a wine bottle has been forgotten by some circus clowns. From this moment, Dumbo’s life is going to change. After drinking they’re having a famous “pink elephants” moment in which they’re seeing fabulous creatures dancing and blending in each other (they’re drunk, of course) and after this fantastic show they wake up in a…. tree.
The birds in the tree are mocking them too and they have to leave. But the little mouse, Dumbo’s only friend, is realizing that they couldn’t possibly got to that tree other than… flying. The birds are laughing and mocking them even more, but after a touching speech in which the mouse is brilliantly protecting his friend, the “socially finished” elephant, the birds decide to help Dumbo learn to fly. By using “psychology” and a feather stuck in Dumbo’s nose, they succeed. Dumbo is actually flying.
The rest is history: after his new skill is perfected, Dumbo returns to the circus and he’s assigned to the same show in which it has to jump from a tall building. This time, the mouse is getting ready to show the new flying talent of its friend, but somehow, they lose the magic feather that made Dumbo believe it can fly. They’re both in the air, falling down faster.
But suddenly, Dumbo realizes that his power doesn’t lie in the feather but in himself, stops the falling and starts to fly in the circus, getting even on those men who were mocking at it.
The cartoon ends with Dumbo flying above his own personal train in which of course he has all these new friends.
Personal Development With Dumbo
That’s a nice and happy ending story. But what’s even nicer it’s what Dumbo can show us from a personal development perspective.
1. Your Biggest Flaw Can Become Your Greatest Asset
Dumbo’s huge ears made him a fantastic elephant, but only when he realized he can fly using them. Until that specific moment, those ears were only dragging him down, making him unhappy and frustrated because he was different. But different is good, different means you’re unique.
Don’t hunt for things that makes you identical with other people, assess what’s unique and different in you. It might be frustrating in the beginning because you can be rejected. But that’s the only way you can contribute: by what’s unique in you.
If Dumbo was trying to cut its ears to the normal size its life would have been dull and insignificant. But keeping its own specific gifts made it become a miracle. Maybe you’re not a fantastic beauty by all standards, but you’re unique and precious. Nobody can be you. Your biggest difference can become your biggest asset.
2025 Update – Further readings:
- The Subtle Art Of Improvisation – How you can ride the tide of change with grace
- Most Of The World Is Functioning At The Grape Level – When what we really aim for is the fine wine
- Why Do We Have To Go “Deep” – Every massive advancement in our lives is a story of loss and achievement, both happening at the same time.
2. Real Friends Take You For What You Are
The tiny little mouse was the change agent for Dumbo. The tiny little mouse was its friend. And it was a very honest and caring one. Never tried to convince Dumbo it could be better without those ears. In fact, it always tried to bring Dumbo at peace with itself. Your friends are not your competition, your friends will never try to change you, your real friends will always take you for what you are. It’s easy to forget that and choose your friends like you choose your clothes: by their fashionability.
The tiny little mouse is the actual progress maker, it is the one which pushes Dumbo to go over the limits. It’s the one which helps the elephant to fly. He became his manager in the end, but hey, you would prefer a manager who taught you to fly before, or a manager who will try to rip you off by telling how “brilliant” you are every 5 minutes?
Friends are honest. Friends are supportive no matter what. Don’t push those guys away from your life.
2025 Update – Further readings:
- We versus I – How much should we “sacrifice” for “others”?
- 5 Things Brewing Beer Taught Me About Relationships – Sometimes it works, sometimes we learn.
- People Placeholders – Learning to update our friends mental images every once in a while.
3. Transformative Experiences Are Always Difficult
Dumbo is starting to fly after its “pink elephants” episode. He becomes unconscious and wakes up in an uncomfortable environment, in a tree. An elephant in a tree, imagine that! He has to really deal with his new environment, he has to adapt. And he learns to fly.
A transformative experience is most of the time a difficult one. If Dumbo wouldn’t have followed the “pink elephants” in the sky he would never have discovered he could fly. His life would have been so quiet and humble without this episode. But he followed the “pink elephants” and woke up in a tree.
I really don’t wanna say that you have to get drunk in order to trigger a transformative experience and I’m sure you already know that. What I’m telling is that getting out of your comfort zone is always rewarding. Extremely difficult, but always rewarding.
2025 Update – Further readings:
- How To Overcome Frustration In 3 Easy Steps – It’s as simple as accepting that you’re going through some tough stuff.
- Discipline versus Motivation – One is guaranteed to take out of that difficult situation, the other isn’t. Which is which?
- Fear Is The Mind Killer – Don’t. Just don’t give in.
4. Trust Yourself Not The Magic Feather
After Dumbo came back to the circus, when he wants to showcase his talent, the little magic feather that made him think he’s a bird disappears. Dumbo finds himself in air, free falling, without a magic feather. He has only 2 choices: to trust the feather and fall down, or to trust himself and fly. Trusting the feather was not an option anymore, because he lost it. So, Dumbo chose to trust himself and started flying on his own.
We all have scaffolds which help us achieve some difficult goals. We all have our own “magic feather” which puts us in the position to overcome difficulties. Our magic feather might be our daily motivational mantras, for example. Saying to yourself each and every day that you’re a better person will eventually make you a better person.
But that’s only a feather. You have to learn how to be a better person by yourself, without a magic feather. At one moment, you’ll be in air, falling down and with your mantras forgotten. At that moment you’ll only have yourself.
Trust in you.
You’ll fly.
2025 Update – Further readings
- Lifestyle Design – Chose your actions, and shape your own life.
- How To Accomplish Big Things – Simple: you achieve great things by breaking them down into smaller, more manageable things.
- Monday Moving Forward – Renegotiate Some Commitments – Use your Mondays to assess, and get rid of the baggage that’s holding you down.
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