Charles Schultz, Cartoons, and Goals

Damien Riley is a teacher, dad, and blogger based in Southern California.

His primary blog: PostCards from the Funny Farm includes articles on inspiration, teaching, psychology, and blogging. He plays guitar and recently got an REM album that is wearing out the CD player in his jeep.

Reaching your goal is a process. Along the way you learn what you are made of.

One example of a person who reached a phenomenal goal is Charles Schultz.

His life is a model for any person to follow. In presenting his life here, I break down the process of achieving your goal into 6 steps.

First: Decide on your goal.

Schultz decided in elementary school that he wanted to draw for a living. We think of Charlie Brown as something that always “was” but it wasn’t until an elementary school kid decided to make it so that it came to pass. We have power to influence what the fads and fashions of the day become. Schultz shows us in his success, which I will illustrate more in a bit, that the decision of what goal to set is the beginning of monster success.

Second: Decide if your goal is something you really can do.

In High School, Schultz submitted his cartoons to the yearbook and when it was printed he was shocked to find his work was not there. The editor told him there were too many submissions and there was no room for his. Schultz could have become discouraged at this point and gave up his dream as impossible, but he didn’t. I am so glad he persisted! Eventually his cartoons would become the #1 most sought after comics in the world. He decided to press on even more after that rejection. He decided his goal of making a living cartooning was something he really could do.

Third: Decide on the first thing you must do.

After the rejection from the yearbook, Schultz decided to pitch his art to some commercial names. He was hired by a St. Paul newspaper that published his comic Lil Folks once a week. He decided he must ask them to publish it every day and as a result they fired him. Every one of my heroes bios contains rejections like this. Schultz’ story shows us to pay no attention to success or failure at first. Instead, decide what you are going to do and follow through.

Fourth: Decide on the second thing you must do.

Schultz was not one to give up. He put his best cartoons together and mailed them to United Feature Syndicate in New York City. They decided to put his cartoons in eight newspapers across the country. That was in 1950. Here’s what was happening with Peanuts stats when he died a few years ago:

[Peanuts] reached readers in 75 countries, 2,600 papers and 21 languages every day, made Mr. Schulz very rich. The ”Peanuts” strips, merchandise and product endorsements brought in $1.1 billion a year. And Mr. Schulz was said to have earned about $30 million to $40 million annually. (New York Times)

Fifth: Start right away.

Schultz started early on in his 77 years of life to make his cartoons. When opportunity came, he was ready because he started right away.

Sixth: Keep telling yourself "I can do it."

I remember every Halloween watching the Great Pumpkin with Charlie Brown. It seems almost mythic, as if it always existed. The fact of the matter is that if Schultz did not believe in himself, I would have never experienced the joy of that show and countless comics I have read by him through the years. None of these six steps mean anything without this last one. Remember the value of believing in yourself.

I see connections here to my job as a dad, to blogging, to teaching, and anything which requires persistence. For me, these six steps are crucial for taking everyday visions and making them a reality the way Charles Schultz has done. Put him down as one of my heroes!

Which step do you think is the most important?

Photo credit: Wikipedia