Don't Be A Goob!

Lewis: I don't even know what I'm doing.

Wilbur: Keep moving forward.

Lewis: I mean, this stuff is way too advanced for me.

Wilbur: Keep moving forward.

Lewis: And what if I can't fix this, what are we going to do?

Wilbur: Keep moving forward.

Lewis: Why do you keep saying that? And don't just say keep moving forward!

Wilbur: It's my dad's motto.

Lewis: Why would his motto be keep moving forward?

Wilbur: It's what he does.

Meet the Robinsons



I love this movie, partly because of its entertainment value, but primarily because of the message it delivers. Here is an aspiring inventor whose inventions never seem to work out the way he plans. In fact, more often than not, they explode. And to top it all off, his mother abandoned him on the doorstep of an orphanage when he was a baby and nobody seems willing to adopt him. He has had well over 100 adoption interviews and, so far, no takers. He is frustrated and fed up and has lost all faith in himself and his abilities.

Do you ever feel like that? Like, no matter how hard you try, things never work out the way you plan and so you might as well give up? Do you ever feel like the entire universe is conspiring against you to hold you down? I know I have. In fact, I felt as if I could point to numerous pieces of evidence that demonstrated that I had been put on this earth simply for God's amusement so that He could see just how much disaster and heartbreak he could heap upon a single man before I would completely cave in.

Wilbur encourages Lewis with his dad's motto, "Keep moving forward!", but Lewis doesn't really get it until the villain catches up to him and explains just how Lewis had ruined his whole life:

Lewis: Goob, I had no idea!

Bowler Hat Guy: Shut up! And don't call me "Goob"! How many evil villains do you know that can pull off a name like "Goob"? Bleh!

Lewis: Look, I'm sorry your life turned out so bad. But don't blame me you messed it up yourself. You just focused on the bad stuff when all you had to do was... let go of the past and keep moving forward...

Bowler Hat Guy: Hmm, let's see... take responsibility for my own life or blame you? Dingdingdingdingding! Blame you wins hands down!

It is an easy trap to fall into when we start blaming others, the environment, the economy or even God for all the trouble in our lives. But one thing that I have learned is that when we play the "blame game" we give up our power over the situation. We surrender our ability to learn and grow and overcome the difficulty that stands in our way. And then, to make matters worse, we relive these failures over and over in our minds, making ourselves mental martyrs, as we constantly remind ourselves why our lives are so awful and why it isn't our fault.

And while we are busy doing that, great opportunities are passing us by and we only see them once they are fading off into the distance as we recognize that those opportunities could have been ours but now it is too late. So now we have a whole new set of complaints that we can blame on others, the environment, the economy or God and we get locked into a vicious circle of blaming and complaining.

It is important to let go of past frustrations and failures. One way to do that is to remember a very simple truth:

There is no such thing as failure - only feedback.

What that means is that when something doesn't go right, it is only feedback about whether or not our approach is working or not. We just need to make the small corrections necessary and keep moving forward. Little kids are great at this.

In my house, we have a long, narrow kitchen in which the cutting board is constantly pulled out because we were slicing or spreading something there and it often does not get pushed back in. My youngest is notorious for running or even just walking through the kitchen and catching the corner of that cutting board right in the head. Depending on the speed he is traveling, he may cry for a couple seconds and then come get a hug or he may simply rub the sore spot and move on. The next time through the kitchen, even when he is distracted in playing with his older brother, it is interesting to observe how just a step before he gets to the cutting board he will suddenly veer away or duck his head to the side without even consciously thinking about it and keeps moving forward. In that one moment, he has learned that traveling this path is painful and with just a small adjustment he can avoid future painful experiences.

Why does he do this? Why doesn't he blame the cutting board for being so hard? Why doesn't he blame his mother, father or brothers for leaving it out? Why doesn't he blame the home builders for not installing safety strobe lights to warn him when it is sticking out from the counter? Why doesn't he blame God for allowing him to get hurt that way? These questions may seem silly, but it is simply to illustrate that he hasn't learned the "blame game" yet like you and I have. Someday I hope he learns that the kitchen isn't exactly a safe place to play, but I hope he never learns the "blame game". I know the chances of that are slim, but I hope at least chooses not to play it.

And that is the point right there - we all have a choice! We can focus on the bad stuff that has happened to us in the past or we can look to the future, open a new door and keep moving forward.

“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
~ Walt Disney

The only thing in this world that can stop you is you! So, don't be a goob! Just keep moving forward!!!

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I know that sometimes we get depressed and we want to wallow in our self-pity and we want to blame our difficulties on someone or something else. I understand that because I feel that way at times, too. What really helps me is to get a little perspective on how bad things really are. The next time you feel that way, I recommend you do some research on W. Mitchell. Read about his life experiences in this Parade Magazine article and then read his personal advice in the articles on his website. It might help you come to the realization that things really aren't so bad after all and only you have the power to make them better.