I recently stayed on a Disney property, and the magic is in the details. I’m not referring to real magic but the moments we experience as magic. I pulled down the twin bed, and found an image strategically placed behind it. It was a classic, serene image of a young Bambi and his childhood friends in a forest of greens. What a calming image to settled into at the end of the day.

Then there was the Tinkerbell sound when unlocking the door with an app. Tinkerbell herself didn’t wedge herself into the lock and flip a switch. It was technology, paired with imagination.

At Disney, there is a lot that is above and beyond. It’s a lot of high-level experience, but it is the simplicity that both puts the exclamation point on the experience and also secures the foundation. In that way, it’s has ties to our everyday lives. We can create timelines of all the highlights (and lowlights) of our lives and consider them to be determination of directions and decisions, but what about the smaller details? The choices we make about our approach and attitude in the seemingly insignificant? They aren’t insignificant. They tether our foundation. They serve as guidelines. And they aren’t magic. We experience them as quite the opposite. They can feel determined and inflexible because of our routines and ruts. They can also feel overwhelming, as if we’re stuck in a quagmire of detail. But above all, they are opportunities. They are our practice tests and our daily reps. They create what we rely on as we open doors and what we settle into at the end of a day.

Give the details their due. Let them put the exclamation point on your experiences and secure your foundation.

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