In 1923, a 22-year-old Walt Disney watched his first studio collapse. Broke, hungry, and bankrupt, he could’ve quit — but instead, he packed a cardboard suitcase, boarded a one-way train to California, and carried nothing but $40 and a dream about a cartoon mouse. That ride birthed Mickey Mouse, Disneyland, and a legacy that defined imagination itself.

Disney’s secret wasn’t luck — it was reframing failure. He treated bankruptcy not as defeat, but as tuition for his education in resilience.

This episode is a reminder that failure isn’t final unless you make it so. When everything falls apart, ask yourself: is this the end… or the setup for my reinvention?

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