The Bruce Lee’s Definite Chief Aim in Life
What is yours?
Last week I came from the 6-day trip to Hong Kong where I attended the Electronics Fair. The fair itself didn’t showcase anything impressive other than numerous Jambox-like Bluetooth speakers, Bose-like headphones, lightning connectors, white label Android smartphones and tablets, GoPro-like action cameras and so forth. The quantity was definitely there — 4,000 exhibitors. The quality is yet to come!
What was definitely the highlight of my trip is the Bruce Lee: Kung Fu‧Art‧Life’ exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum [1]. I was 10 when I read my first book on Bruce Lee [2]. Since then I read all the books on him (or by him) I could find, made an online encyclopedia [3], watched literally all the documentaries out there, listened to all of his interviews and collected thousands of his photos. However, seeing real things is an entirely different game. Bruce Lee’s training schedule & training equipment, original notes and film scripts, books from his library [4], conceptual drawings from the fight scenes — all these electrify you to get out there and do something worth remembering.
What caught my special attention was the original personal mission statement Bruce Lee wrote back in the January of 1969 — a year before his return to Hong Kong where he made five movies which made him the superstar all around the world. But at the beginning of 1969, having had a few supporting roles in a few Hollywood films (including ‘The Green Hornet’ series), a little financial security and with Shannon (his second child) recently born, Bruce Lee was determined to overcome the crisis. Here’s what he wrote:
My Definite Chief Aim
I, Bruce Lee, will be the first highest paid Oriental super star in the United States. In return I will give the most exciting performances and render the best of quality in the capacity of an actor. Starting 1970 I will achieve world fame and from then onward till the end of 1980 I will have in my possession $10,000,000. I will live the way I please and achieve inner harmony and happiness.
Bruce Lee
Jan. 1969
I have been practicing the positive affirmations since 2003. I always have only 7 of them on 7 separate notes. All in present tense and covering 7 aspects of my life: personal growth, professional, intellectual, physical, family and friends, financial and spiritual dimensions. I replace the goals which were fulfilled by the new ones. The time when these affirmations need to expire is actually never obvious, as most of the time they become the reality in a way you have never imagined. At the end of each day, I review my 7 goals to see whether I practiced a daily habit to reach each of them. One thing I’ve never done, however, is a personal mission statement. Good companies have them [5]. So should people. How would mine and yours look like?
Notes
[1] It took me 4 or 5 line changes to get there from Wan Chai. You might think it was a nightmare in terms of transportation. But MTR, the local rapid transit railway system, is simply the best subway system I’ve ever encountered. I think all the aspiring designers, user experience and product people should study how easy and effective the whole system is. The whole thing is definitely a topic for a separate essay, but I should say this: MTR blew me away!
[2] That was the Russian translation of ‘The Fighting Spirit’ by Bruce Thomas.
[3] The most popular resource on him in the Russian segment of Internet from 2004 to 2009.
[4] I noticed Richard Bach’s ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’!
[5] I don’t mean the cliches written on tens of pages of official paper to describe the values no one in the company believes in (or even have time to read). I mean the kind of mission statements which can be expressed in 2-3 sentences. Google, Zappos, Amazon are great examples.
If you found any value in this essay, it would mean a lot to me if you scrolled down and recommended it.
