For any one person to be successful in their field, you have to have two things. Firstly, a point of motivation. And secondly, the right balance of characteristics or mind-set traits to get to that point of motivation. Neither works without the other.

So how does this thesis (and you) relate to the wizard of Oz?

Well, although Frank Baum, the author of Oz, said there was no underlying thesis or message behind the story, I feel like there is a lot to be learnt from the wisdom of the journey; as there is with any journey involving bold characters and a dream.

So here are my top five Wizard of Oz lessons to be learnt, each one proof that you can find inspiration and motivation in the strangest of places and people.

Wizard of Oz Lessons to Learn

1) The Scarecrow – The importance of being Educated, but not Schooled…

“Brains” of coarse, is a useful tool in any kind of active lifestyle but particularly the highly motivated.

Because if you don’t know your field well, then it’s much harder to change or contribute to it successfully. Putting that extra bit of research into your projects at the start, middle and end is the  key to your success.

But, at stated in the subtitle, I don’t mean “Brains” in a particularly academic sense.

What I mean by “research” is more in the sense of awareness; being as widely knowledgeable as you can possibly be. Never just look around and think that’s it. Because being successful is understanding that no one invention can be categorised and there’s always something new out there to discover. So in terms of the yellow brick road, the Scarecrow didn’t need to travel to Oz to find intelligence. He just had to look around as he was going about his journey.

No-one will come down from the sky and tell you exactly what you need to know to be the best. Part of being talented, is understanding the potential this brings you and applying it to what you want.

2) The Tin Man - Putting your heart into your creations…

Like the Tin man, you could be the most educated writer/artist/businessman in your entire field, which is great. But what will make you great is always ensuring that you are doing what your doing for the right reasons. To provide for an audience you have to understand the people. To provide well you have to understand yourself and know that the task at hand is something you care about.

And this is something you cannot train or research yourself into.

Truth is, if your hearts not in a project, then you’re not in the right project. It’s as simple as that. All journeys face lows; the parts where the work is harder and we start to loose hope. But if your hearts not in it, you will not be able to drag yourself through and all that time spent trying will be wasted. Thus the consequences are more fatal. And as said before, this is in terms of all journeys. Whether that’s from Munchkin Land to Oz by yellow brick road or from being a young writer to a best-selling author through good old-fashioned hard work.

The blips will be unique to your journey, not everyone will be aware of them or understand how to conquer them, but we are more likely, as creators, to succeed in finding a solution (and succeed overall) if we know that what we are doing satisfies something within ourselves as well as other peoples. Creation isn’t a business. Creation is something you turn into a business when it’s ready to stand alone.

3) The Lion - Having the courage to fail…

Don’t let your fears hold you back. If you want something with all your heart, if you’ve put the work into knowing everything about that something then feel confident enough to go out there and show it off to the world as something unique to your journey. If this means taking the path less travelled on, then so be it.

I’ve said before that Success is almost like a case of ‘Survival of the Fittest’. I think this idea comes into play here in the fact that only the most knowledgeable and the most passionate will get the best places.

But the fundamentals of having brains and passion, is having the courage to act upon the things you find and what you want to achieve. Because without courage and confidence in what you have to offer, there will be no journey and thus another year of wasted potential goes by.

If you want to go to America, then go to America. If you want to write a book, then write a book. If you want to start a business, then start a business. Just because it’s different to what the people around you aspire to achieve, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Unless you want to be just like those around you of coarse?

Part of life is taking chances. And as long as their well calculated (there is a difference between courageous and stupid) any turn is worth taking. And if that road is a wrong turn, then you’ll have learnt something about yourself trying that nobody else will have. But if it’s a success, the result will be just the same.

3.5) A Triangle of Traits - Learning from The Scarecrow, The Tin man and The Lion…

The triangle of traits above, intelligence, passion and courage, I think are most worthy of you taking away as a lesson learnt from this blog post. I think this mostly because of how they form the basic three steps of success for any project and person.

1) To love what your doing (heart) - found in the Scarecrow at the start of the film.

2) To be good at what your doing (brains) - found in the Tin man next on Dorothy’s journey.

3) Act upon what you love and know (courage) – found lastly on Dorothy’s journey.

Each element depends on the other. Each element fuels the other. And each element, when balanced, becomes the unstoppable ingredients for a successfully directed, and much focussed mind-set. And although these may all seem like obvious aims for the self-developer, sometimes it’s the simplest lessons that benefit us the most. When we break them down they are not easy to achieve and find within sometimes, but that’s natural for any journey.

4) Take the Road Less Travelled on - Don’t follow the yellow brick road…

When Dorothy wanted to find ‘home’ everyone told her to follow the yellow brick road. This choice had its ups and it’s downs.

But as with any journey, Dorothy discovered many new things about the world and about herself on the yellow brick road; as did the other characters she met. This is good because any journey, wrong turn or not, will shape your ideas just that little bit more with the things you‘ll see. It was also much easier for her to follow this path, because everyone knew the way around it.

However, Oz turned out to be a bit of a phony. Proof of quite a few things actually.

Firstly, that you should always refer to the paths you take as opportunities, rather than your set way of getting to where you need to get. Having a back up plan is vital in any field of success. It’s also important that you note what’s at the end of whatever path your taking, will provide a gain for you because if you choose a path that suits someone else’s needs and not that of yourself how can you expect to feel fulfilled at the end? To achieve your ‘home’.

Secondly, that you can’t rely on other people to get what you want when you’re aiming high. The truth was, as the truth is for you, all the things you need to be the best that you can be are inside you, just waiting for you to use them, which leads us nicely onto my fifth and final lesson.

5) A Summary on Potential - Looking outside of the shiny prize at the end…

Just like the Tin man, The Lion, The Scarecrow and Dorothy, you have the potential to use all of the attributes to whatever benefit you see fit. But if you don’t take notice of the things around you whilst your on the yellow brick road, you’ll find a lack of purpose in what your doing.

So know what your Oz is. What you truly want out of your journey before you set out to go about it. Look around you as you go, ensure your focused but have the courage to take a turn if it seems like it will better fulfil your ambitions.

The novel, The Wizard of Oz was published in 1900. That’s over a hundred years ago, but all of these lessons are still applicable now because the struggle for success will always be there. We’re moving forward now. Technology is growing. Creation is growing. Due to ease, creation through technology is growing.

But there’s still a struggle because everyone has grown with this creation, everyone is taking advantage of it and quite a few budding successors are consumed by other peoples. Sometimes it takes a hurricane or some other form of disaster to tell us that we’re not on track. What I pitch to you today is not to let it get that far.

It’s time to click those heels.

Wrote by Aimee Hall