Phineas and Ferb – The Most Highly Effective Boys I know

Cover of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

This blog post is purely motivated by my need to change for the better and how lately I have looked for or analyzing people who are highly effective and successful in their fields.

This has been a painstaking process for me, as I am learning to be successful you must have an ultra positive state of mind; while living and breathing the change you are trying to become. During this process, I am analyzing so many aspects of my life from work, relationships and lifestyle.

A staple part my lifestyle is my Saturday morning cartoon time with my son. In particular the time we spend watching the very funny yet super informative Phineas and Ferb on the Disney Channel.

The show follows the adventures of step brothers Phineas Flynn (Vincent Martella) and Ferb Fletcher (Thomas Sangster), who live in the fictional town of Danville, somewhere in the Tri-State area. Their older sister, Candace Flynn (Ashley Tisdale), is obsessed with two things throughout the show.  One is “busting” Phineas and Ferb’s schemes and ideas, usually calling their mother to report the boys’ activities in an attempt to get them in trouble, but is never successful because of events that transpire in another subplot. Second is that she is obsessed with a boy named Jeremy (Mitchel Musso) who she wants to be her boyfriend.  Meanwhile, the boys’ pet platypus, Perry, acts as a secret agent for an all-animal government organization called the O.W.C.A. (“Organization Without a Cool Acronym”), fighting Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz.  The two plots intersect at the end to erase all traces of the boys’ project just before Candace can show it to their mother. This usually leaves Candace very frustrated.

The plot is amusing and keeps my son’s attention, recently I honed in on how highly successful and effective Phineas and Ferb are as people. Every episode opens with an idea or some link to an idea. Phineas seeing the idea and then being motivated to make this idea a reality, project, and or adventure for that day. When Phineas has a new idea, he says, “Ferb, I know what we’re gonna do today!” In several episodes, an adult will ask Phineas if he is a little young to be performing some complex activities, to which he responds “Yes, yes I am.”

I could go on and on about the comedy and musical attribute of this series but I want to highlight what I think are some amazing success skills that are being showcased in this cartoon. Recently, people in my circle have discussed the idea of excuse ridden failures or bi…asdeness. As well as the idea that the world consist of 97% of complacent people and the other 3% who excel and do not look back. Phineas and Ferb are the true examples of 3%, they think it, say it and do it. The brilliant thing about them is that at the end of every episode their hard work is destroyed by some sort of freak accident involving the platypus; but that does not matter. They come right back the next episode with the same vigor and excitement as before. How many people can actually say they are willing to do that?

To simply state what a 3% truly is.  Internet Marketing Guru, Master Lloyd Irvin says,”In life, deciding on what you would consider success and putting yourself in a position to become successful.  97% of the population is losers and only 3% of the population is winners and you have to decide what percentage group you want to be in.  Then surround yourself, or find a way, to get around the 3% group.”

I think the best part of this cartoon, none of the boy’s friends moans or groans about the arduous task in front of them. They are excited as well and committed to the end goal of each project they create. Some of them might be a 97% at home but when the are with Phineas and Ferb they are 3% by choice.

To bring some theoretical perspective to what I am discussing. Think in the context of Stephen R. Covey and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, this a business and self-help book. This work illustrates the seven habits of highly successful and effective people. I am not proposing that these two cartoons characters represent all seven habits, but what I am proposing is that they use some of them extremely effectively to carry out their goals. Read  below and see if you apply these goals to your life.

Habit 1: Be Proactive Take initiative in life by realizing that your decisions (and how they align with life’s principles) are the primary determining factor for effectiveness in your life. Take responsibility for your choices and the consequences that follow.

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind Self-discover and clarify your deeply important character values and life goals. Envision the ideal characteristics for each of your various roles and relationships in life. Create a mission statement.

Habit 3: Put First Things First Prioritize, plan, and execute your week’s tasks based on importance rather than urgency. Evaluate whether your efforts exemplify your desired character values, propel you toward goals, and enrich the roles and relationships that were elaborated in Habit 2.

Habit 4: Think Win-Win Genuinely strive for mutually beneficial solutions or agreements in your relationships. Value and respect people by understanding a “win” for all is ultimately a better long-term resolution than if only one person in the situation had gotten his way.

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood Use empathic listening to be genuinely influenced by a person, which compels them to reciprocate the listening and take an open mind to being influenced by you. This creates an atmosphere of caring, and positive problem solving.

Habit 6: Synergize, combine the strengths of people through positive teamwork, so as to achieve goals no one person could have done alone.

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw Balance and renew your resources, energy, and health to create a sustainable, long-term, effective lifestyle. It primarily emphasizes exercise for physical renewal, prayer (meditation, yoga, etc.) and good reading for mental renewal. It also mentions service to society for spiritual renewal.

There you have it. A cartoon can represent highly effective and successful people. I could go on and on about the creators and their motivation etc. etc. That is for another blog post. A fun fact about the creators, it took them 16 years to get Phineas and Ferb picked up by a network. In the meantime the creators had highly successful careers with cartoon strips like Nickelodeon’s Rocko’s Modern Life. They never gave up on this dream of these two adventurous boys. So ask yourself, “How can you give up on your dream?”

Related articles

• The Origin Of Dr. Doofenshmirtz Revealed On ‘Phineas and Ferb’ (geek-news.mtv.com)
• FREE Activity in Downtown Disney Until December 1, 2012 (disneyways.com)