Bruce Lee- MILITAR MINDSET

Bruce Lee was a martial arts expert and movie super star. Many credit Lee for revolutionising the industry, bringing martial arts into the main stream media by displaying fun and action packed fighting scenes within his films.

As well as providing us with entertaining movies (Enter the Dragon is some movie, I definitely recommend you watch it!), Lee was a philosopher who provided us with a deeper way of thinking in order to improve ourselves.

He was a teacher who taught people the art of expressing themselves through martial arts, holding various demonstrations and teaching classes.

People have also credited Lee as being one of the founders of mixed martial arts as we know it today, as he would go onto to create his own hybrid martial arts, Jeet Kune Do, which applied different martial arts techniques.

Bruce Lee is one of the most iconic people from his generation, his work and efforts have had a lasting impact to this day, he definitely had the MILITAR MINDSET!

Check out our Bruce Lee- MILITAR MINDSET video as part of  our Icon Series on YouTube!

How did Lee display the MILITAR MINDSET throughout his life?

Of course, Lee is world renowned for his blockbuster movies which changed the industry, providing us with intense combat action scenes the world had never seen before!

But to understand what made Lee different and successful, we need to look at his MINDSET.

Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco to parents Lee Hoi-chuen and Grace Ho. After just 3 months in the city since Bruce’s birth, the family decided to move back to Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong, Bruce’s father was a famous Cantonese opera star. This allowed Bruce to make appearances in films at a really young age, debuting as a baby in the movie ‘The Golden Gate Girl (1941)’. 

Lee’s introduction to martial arts subsequently came due to his involvement in street fights as a child. After being in several fights, his parents decided that he needed to take up martial arts. 

His friend, William Cheung, would introduce Lee to the Wing Chun Master, Ip Man. At first Lee was rejected entry, as back then, the Chinese were opposed to training anyone Chinese martial arts without full Chinese heritage, but soon Lee would become a dedicated student of Ip Man’s.

Bruce would grow a stronger relationship with Ip Man as he was taught privately with a few friends and the masterful Wing Chun coach. 

This resulted in Bruce Lee winning the Hong Kong schools boxing tournament in 1958, defeating previous champion Gary Elms in the final by knockout.

However, Lee would continue to get into trouble as he was involved in more street fights, so his parents decided to send him back to America in 1959 to finish his studies.

After finishing his high school studies in Seattle, Lee would study dramatic arts, philosophy, psychology, and various other subjects, with an official major in drama.

During his studies, Lee instantly started to teach people martial arts calling it Jun Fan Gung Fu (meaning Bruce Lee’s Kung Fu).

As we can see from a young age Lee has always been different. Though he was involved in fights, he ended up channeling this into martial arts.

It became something he was passionate about, teaching others too. Lee aimed to be the best martial artist he could be, just like he aimed to be the best movie star.

Whatever Bruce put his mind too, he wanted to be the best at it. In order to do this he had to believe in himself and his self-belief came from his outstanding work ethic.

Lee also looked at things from a different perspective. Having studied the likes of philosophy, Bruce Lee was a thinker.

He understood that knowledge was power and key for us as humans to grow and strive towards our goals.

Lee famously said ‘Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do’. Here, Lee is reiterating the importance of applying what we learn. What benefit does gaining knowledge have if we don’t act upon it?

Lee makes us question ourselves, as ultimately if we want to achieve our dreams we must take action.

Lee always had a clear and positive mindset regardless of the situation he was in, ‘Do not allow negative thoughts to enter your mind for they are the weeds that strangle confidence’.

Teaching us to always stay positive, negativity will effect our self-confidence, making us doubt ourselves, but if we are able to overcome the negativity and be positive, we will continue to thrive and strive towards our goals. 

Don’t let the negative thoughts in your mind put you down! You must overcome these thoughts to achieve your goals. Remember to always stay positive and act upon the knowledge you learn when working towards your dreams.

Bruce Lee INSPIRED people…But how?

Lee was known for many things throughout his life. Being an INSPIRATION is definitely one!

When Lee returned to America in 1959, he started to teach people Kung Fu. As stated before, he had been taught in Hong Kong by Master Yip Man after his parents decided he needed to be disciplined after having numerous street fights.

During this time period, the Chinese were against teaching non-Chinese people their way of martial arts. Lee didn’t share this opinion. He thought Kung Fu should be taught to everyone. Lee understood the importance martial arts had for people both physically and mentally.

Many people see martial arts as ‘violent’ but Lee disagreed. It isn’t about violence. Lee showed us that martial arts was a way to express ourselves.

Many kids and people in general, look up to Bruce Lee when it comes to martial arts. For many people, he was the first martial artist that they had heard of or seen, watching his movies which were worldwide hits.

Lee taught people that anything was possible with the belief and work ethic to do so. He himself was able to bring martial arts out of China and spread the benefits of it to the world.

Prior to Bruce Lee’s time, martial arts was not so popular in the western world and definitely not popular within the film industry.

Nowadays, martial arts are practised worldwide and continue to be popular in films, especially in action scenes of movies where many of the film stars train in martial arts to perform the scenes.

The likes of mixed martial arts has also become very popular now too, UFC president Dana White has credited Bruce Lee for starting it.

Lee was known to mix different martial arts styles together, even within in his own art form, Jeet Kune Do. The art is a mix of effective techniques across different martial arts.

Lee inspired people outside of martial arts too as her taught people the power of dedication and belief in yourself. Not many people believed in Lee when he first started making movies and his commitment to teaching people martial arts.

It is something that hadn’t been done before, so how was the unknown at the time Bruce Lee going to do it? This doubt motivated Bruce even further to accomplish the things that people didn’t think he could do.

Lee shows us that whatever you set your mind too it is attainable. Even if it is something that hasn’t been done before, it doesn’t mean that you can’t be the first to do it.

Another popular quote of Lee’s is: ‘Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one’s potential’. 

Lee teaches us that we all have potential. He realised this at a young age and wanted to fulfil his by finding out what he is truly passionate about and pursuing it. He was nothing but himself and continued to strive forward to grow and become better each day.

You must continue to believe in yourself when chasing your goals. Even when times are tough, never stop believing and keep moving forward. Don’t let your potential go to waste, as Bruce Lee said, we all have potential to do something great!

LIMITATIONS? Bruce Lee didn’t believe in them

Lee realised in order to reach his full potential he mustn’t limit himself. He was LIMITLESS.

Lee didn’t restrict himself to just being a martial artist. He expanded beyond this.

Bruce Lee was a great martial artist. It was his true passion and something he enjoyed as he aimed to to become the absolute best martial artists he can, but it wasn’t his only passion.

Ever since just a baby, Lee was involved in the movie world. It was the main subject he studied at college as he aimed to become a movie superstar too. Lee was able to combine both his passions into one, as his movies revolved heavily around martial arts.

Lee chased all the dreams he had and didn’t limit himself to achieving just one of his goals. He wanted to do it all!

Lee would go on to do that as he is known as both a movie superstar and great martial artist, as well as a philosopher and many other things.

Lee told us ‘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.’

Lee is showing us, whatever we do we must have an open mind. There is always more that can be done. More for us to do and accomplish. With this limitless approach, Lee was able to continue to grow.

He dint set himself a limit and stop there, he aimed to further improve each time. 

Don’t put a limit on what you can achieve. If you limit yourself, you will never reach your full potential. Always aim high, otherwise you won’t be able to see what you are truly capable of…

We all must find INNER-PEACE. Here’s how Bruce Lee did it

As stated before Lee was a deep thinker. He was able to find INNER-PEACE through martial arts.

After Lee’s well documented fight against Wong Jack Man in 1964 (there are many different accounts of what happened, personally I don’t have a clue who won with them all being so different!) he realised there were flaws in his style of fighting.

This led him to create his very own martial art. Jeet Kune Do. Here he applied what he had learnt from different martial arts to create his own style.

Lee emphasised the importance of being able to adapt in his new martial art, famously saying ‘be like water’.

Adaptability is important not just in martial arts, but in life generally. Lee shows us we must be able to adapt and overcome any adversity we may face in order for us to strive to reach our goals.

We can see how Lee was able to find inner-peace within himself by creating a martial art that solved his problems.

Another key reason behind Lee finding his own inner-peace is by pursuing his passions. Lee never did anything he didn’t want to do. Everything he did was something he was truly passionate about.

If Lee didn’t have the desire to do something he wouldn’t do it, as he knew he wouldn’t be happy or perform to the best of his abilities. All the things he has achieved great success in, movies, teaching martial arts, were all things that he loved dearly.

You must be true to yourself and do what you love to do.

Lee told us to ‘Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it’. Teaching us to always stay true to ourselves. By copying others we are not being authentic and being ourselves.

We must do what we want to do, not what others want us to do.

Find what you want in life. Believe in it. Then focus on that to find your own inner-peace.

Bruce Lee understood the importance of TIME

Lee truly realised the essence and importance of TIME. Even though he was so successful in a short period of time, sadly passing at the age of 32, he was patient and disciplined throughout his life.

When Lee returned to America in 1959, he didn’t immediately become a movie sensation. It took him time.

He wasn’t able to find opportunities in the industry. But Lee didn’t panic. Instead he used this time to focus on other things he was interested in.

Lee decided to teach his passion of martial arts to people, immediately after arriving in America. Lee was even a dance instructor during this time! He was a cha cha dance champion in Hong Kong in 1958!

Bruce Lee would continue to pursue his studies whilst training people. He didn’t waste time and wait around for opportunities to come in his acting career. He continued to work hard and make opportunities happen by actively learning and improving his skills all around.

Lee finally got his break in the industry in the Green Hornet in 1966. This catapulted Lee’s acting career and allowed him to star in the films we best know him for today!

During these times Asian people weren’t landing the big roles in Hollywood. They were merely servants rather than the heroes.

Lee changed the perception of Asians in Hollywood, bridging the gap between the cultures, allowing them to land bigger roles in Hollywood.

Lee said ‘If you truly love life, don’t waste time because time is what life is made of.’ Here Lee is showing us that we only have a certain amount of time in life.

We mustn’t waste time and make sure we spend it wisely. Lee made sure that he was patient and continued to work towards his goals each day.

He knew that in order to accomplish his dreams, he had to give things time. Nothing will happen overnight, so Bruce made sure that he stayed disciplined and committed to attaining his dreams.

When chasing your own dreams you must give things time. You must use time efficiently and continue to work towards your goals. The results will not be instantly visible, it will all come in due time and you must be patient and disciplined, so keep on going!

Bruce Lee was ACTIVE all day everyday!

Lee always kept himself busy. He was always doing something. Lee was ACTIVE.

His typical days consisted of his workouts, teaching his students, spending time with his family and writing. Lee didn’t like to spend time watching TV! He wanted to focus on developing himself both physically and mentally.

Bruce Lee was a doer, each day he had a plan of what he wanted to do. He stuck to that schedule most days and made sure he was on track towards fulfilling his aspirations. 

Being involved in many different things, Lee didn’t have the time to sit around.

As an actor and director he would be filming for large parts of the day and as a martial artist he would need to train and dedicate time to his students for their own development and progression too.

Bruce Lee always aimed to to master whatever he chose to do. To do this, he would need to dedicate a lot of time and work to reach this rank, which is something that Lee was willing to do.

Lee told us ‘If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done. Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal.’ Lee shows us we mustn’t procrastinate by imagining things. We must take action.

If we think too long on something, we are wasting time and allowing the possibility of negative thoughts to sway us away from fulfilling that goal.

Each day we must be active and constantly looking to improve ourselves in order to reach our dreams.

In order for you to achieve your goals you must be constantly working towards them. No matter how big or small a step you take, progress is progress. What did you do today that brought you that extra step closer to your goals?

Here is a summary of Bruce Lee’s daily routine! Check out this post to find out more about what Bruce Lee would fill his days with.

Bruce Lee really was RELENTLESS!

Lee was RELENTLESS. Both physically and mentally.

Physically, Lee knew what he wanted to achieve in terms of his martial arts training and film career.

Lee said: ‘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’. Lee is showing us the importance of hard work.

He teaches us that it is easy to try many different things, but to master one thing to the best of your ability, requires a lot of hard work and dedication. When working towards his own goals, Lee was relentless to be the absolute best at it.

This included a lot of repetition, which many people find boring, but it is necessary to reach the levels desired.

We must work strenuously to achieve our goals. If we constantly work at it, we will only get better.

Mentally Lee was also relentless. Lee famously said: ‘as you think, so shall you become’. Lee knew in his mind what he wanted to achieve. He was driven to do whatever it takes to fulfil those goals.

He dreamed of being at the pinnacle, so he worked his way up there. Lee was confident in himself as he knew deep down he was putting the work in.

Everything Lee did he aimed to be the best he possibly could be. Putting in countless hours learning and applying the things he learnt.

Lee took this relentless approach to all things that he set his mind too. Being average for Bruce Lee was not enough, he wanted to be great at it. One of the very best, which is something Lee was able to do.

You must be relentless in your journey towards achieving your aspirations. You mustn’t let anyone or any thought stop you from it!

At times the journey will be tough, but you must persevere and keep moving forward. Your hard work and efforts will one day pay off, just never quit!

Bruce Lee was a truly unique individual. He is one of the most influential people from his generation, as he changed the landscape of how martial arts was practised in the world, as well as changing the movie industry. 

He strived for nothing but excellence in anything he put his mind too, teaching us many things both mentally and physically which we should use to reach our ultimate dreams.

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