loveshogun
Master Don Juan
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2009
- Messages
- 721
- Reaction score
- 35
One of Bruce Lee's students once had the following exchange with him (this is a dramatization).
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"Bruce, I have a question for you," said the student.
The Dragon replied: "Sure, ask away."
Now, the student knew how demanding Bruce was as a master. Bruce would always tell his student to look inward, to find his own weaknesses, to expose them and face them every day so that he may improve.
So, the student first began with exposing his weakness.
"Bruce, I cannot kick quickly enough. I'm a slow kicker," he said.
Bruce nodded in contemplation - but he didn't say a word.
The student, perplexed, continued.
"Bruce, I've learned thousands of techniques from dozens of the best teachers in the world, yourself included. I've memorized them all, and I practice every day. I can recite, verbatim, every single thing I need to do in order to kick with lightning speed. I can show it slowly. I know everything there is to know about kicking quickly, but I still don't kick quickly enough."
Bruce just tilted his head slightly toward the sky, thoughtfully raising his eyebrows in contemplation.
Finally, the student could take no more frustration. "Bruce, I've done everything everyone has told me to do, and I still can't kick fast enough. How can I kick faster?"
Bruce looked back at his student, and said one thing:
"Kick faster."
Bruce patted his student on the back and went back to training.
With that, the student was left to mull over the cryptic knowledge his master left him. But what did it mean?
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I personally found this quote, "kick faster", to be incredibly useful when investigating my own weaknesses in life.
The point is, I got out of college a while back, and only then did I realize how aimless I was because I relied so much on others telling me what to do. I wasn't a student, I was a slave.
What Bruce meant by his answer was that, yes, his student would have to figure out for himself what he was doing wrong, because while others could expose every little possibility as to how the student can kick faster, only the student can actually bring himself to do it.
The idea of being a student is important, yes. There are others out there who will teach you, and you'd do well to learn from them.
BUT - this doesn't mean that being a good student of anything is the success itself. Good instructors don't teach you so that you learn to depend on their knowledge - they teach you so you can learn to depend on yourself.
Because eventually, only you can decide what to do with what you know.
Until you get it done, until you just "kick faster", every truth in the world can only be a theory.
Until I began to understand this - and I still don't completely understand this - I was completely lost when others weren't guiding me with their knowledge. That's a sad state to be in.
Then again, if it were easy, we'd all be Don Juans. Go out and get some.
------
"Bruce, I have a question for you," said the student.
The Dragon replied: "Sure, ask away."
Now, the student knew how demanding Bruce was as a master. Bruce would always tell his student to look inward, to find his own weaknesses, to expose them and face them every day so that he may improve.
So, the student first began with exposing his weakness.
"Bruce, I cannot kick quickly enough. I'm a slow kicker," he said.
Bruce nodded in contemplation - but he didn't say a word.
The student, perplexed, continued.
"Bruce, I've learned thousands of techniques from dozens of the best teachers in the world, yourself included. I've memorized them all, and I practice every day. I can recite, verbatim, every single thing I need to do in order to kick with lightning speed. I can show it slowly. I know everything there is to know about kicking quickly, but I still don't kick quickly enough."
Bruce just tilted his head slightly toward the sky, thoughtfully raising his eyebrows in contemplation.
Finally, the student could take no more frustration. "Bruce, I've done everything everyone has told me to do, and I still can't kick fast enough. How can I kick faster?"
Bruce looked back at his student, and said one thing:
"Kick faster."
Bruce patted his student on the back and went back to training.
With that, the student was left to mull over the cryptic knowledge his master left him. But what did it mean?
------
I personally found this quote, "kick faster", to be incredibly useful when investigating my own weaknesses in life.
The point is, I got out of college a while back, and only then did I realize how aimless I was because I relied so much on others telling me what to do. I wasn't a student, I was a slave.
What Bruce meant by his answer was that, yes, his student would have to figure out for himself what he was doing wrong, because while others could expose every little possibility as to how the student can kick faster, only the student can actually bring himself to do it.
The idea of being a student is important, yes. There are others out there who will teach you, and you'd do well to learn from them.
BUT - this doesn't mean that being a good student of anything is the success itself. Good instructors don't teach you so that you learn to depend on their knowledge - they teach you so you can learn to depend on yourself.
Because eventually, only you can decide what to do with what you know.
Until you get it done, until you just "kick faster", every truth in the world can only be a theory.
Until I began to understand this - and I still don't completely understand this - I was completely lost when others weren't guiding me with their knowledge. That's a sad state to be in.
Then again, if it were easy, we'd all be Don Juans. Go out and get some.
