Most people recognize Bruce Lee as a renowned martial artist and action film actor, but along with his incredible athleticism, strength, and poise, he also left behind many important life lessons. It takes a lot of dedication, determination, and willpower to reach the level that Bruce Lee did with martial arts, and many people have considered him one of the most influential martial artists of all time. Along his journey in life, he gained much wisdom that he shared with the rest of the world that we can still apply to our lives today.
Here are 11 life changing lessons from Bruce Lee:
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1. Live your life to the fullest.
“If you truly love life, don’t waste time because time is what life is made of.”
“Real living is living for others.”
“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.”
“To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities”.
“The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering”.
2. Embrace your mistakes.
“Don’t fear failure. — Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.”
“Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.”
“Those who are unaware they are walking in darkness will never seek the light.”
3. Your mind is the greatest enemy, unless you learn to master it.
“Defeat is a state of mind; no one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality.”
“Do not allow negative thoughts to enter your mind for they are the weeds that strangle confidence.”
“As you think, so shall you become.”
“A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough.”
4. Don’t try to control reality – just go with the flow.
“The great mistake is to anticipate the outcome of the engagement; you ought not to be thinking of whether it ends in victory or defeat. Let nature take its course, and your tools will strike at the right moment.”
“In order to control myself I must first accept myself by going with and not against my nature.”
5. Simplify your mind, simplify your life.
“It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.”
“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.”
“Be happy, but never satisfied.”
“Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own”
6. Only focus on becoming the best version of yourself.
“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.”
“?The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”
“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself – do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.”
“For it is easy to criticize and break down the spirit of others, but to know yourself takes a lifetime.”
“To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person”.
7. Push yourself past the comfort zone.
“If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”
“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one”
“In the middle of chaos lies opportunity”
8. You can achieve success through persistence, but more than that, believing in yourself.
“Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later the man who wins, is the man who thinks he can.”
“Remember no man is really defeated unless he is discouraged.”
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
“The doubters said,
“Man can not fly,”
The doers said,
“Maybe, but we’ll try,”
And finally soared
In the morning glow
While non-believers
Watched from below.”
9. Stay humble.
“Showing off is the fool’s idea of glory.”
10. Don’t be afraid to walk the path alone.
“Only the self-sufficient stand alone – most people follow the crowd and imitate.”
11. Always know your self-worth.
“The more we value things, the less we value ourselves”
“It is not a shame to be knocked down by other people. The important thing is to ask when you’re being knocked down, ‘Why am I being knocked down?’ If a person can reflect in this way, then there is hope for this person.”
