This was the working philosophy of personal development of the legendary martial artist actor and philosopher Bruce Lee.

I have had also fully embraced it in my relentless quest for developing personal mastery.

“Don't speak negatively about yourself, even as a joke. Your body doesn't know the difference. Words are energy and they cast spells, that's why it's called spelling. Change the way you speak about yourself, and you can change your life.”

Interestingly, the legendary martial-artist-actor and philosopher Bruce Lee captured the essence of what Tony Robbins has often termed as Transformational Vocabulary very well. 

There's indeed power in words and oftentimes, when you change the word you use, you change your mindset completely.

What is self mastery?

Self mastery is the ability to take control of your own life. 

It allows you to recognize and understand your thought processes, habitual domain and behavioral actions. It is therefore a personal choice; the way in which you choose to operate in this world.

The path to self mastery begins with developing your self-awareness. 

The more you understand your pattern of reactions and emotions, the more control you will have over your life.

By being self aware, we can act with strategic intention rather than on automatic reflex that we can’t control.

Why is self mastery important?

Self mastery helps you to create a better, happier and fulfilling life. By exploring how to control your internal thoughts, you will not only enrich yourself but the lives of those around you.

When we think negative thoughts, our emotions become vulnerable. This leads to negative reactions and resulting consequences.

With self mastery, you will begin to control these impulses and make rational decisions rather than act purely upon emotion. You will learn to understand and master your feelings to drive happiness in your career, your relationships and day to day life.

How to develop self mastery

Self mastery is an ongoing process. It’s a commitment to a never-ending journey of self-improvement and continued learning to reach your full potential.

The first steps to developing self mastery are:

1. Declaring  a firm commitment to yourself

Decide to be the CEO in your life and make a decision today to invest in your happiness and fulfillment. Committing to self-improvement is often the hardest step but is the name of the game.

2. Getting real and getting vulnerable

To reach our full potential, we must first be willing to go deep and explore our vulnerability. Emotions are powerful but they shouldn’t be feared. Recognize and accept your feelings and be ready to share this with others.

3. Surrounding yourself with inspiring individuals

The people we associate ourselves with are a reflection of our character building. 

To be the person you want to be, you must surround yourself with like-minded, positive individuals.

4. Finding support

The secret to success in any form of self-improvement is accountability. 

Seek support from friends, family or even a professional to help you on your journey of self mastery.

Interestingly, as mentioned in the Psycho-Cybernetics classic, martial artist and movie actor Chuck Norris, a close friend of the late martial artist and philosopher Bruce Lee, took Bruce Lee's exercise (which I have had already described in an earlier post) even further.

In his book, The Secret Power Within You, Chuck Norris wrote:

"I actually write down on a scrap of paper whatever negative thoughts I have and then burn them.

When I dispose of the ashes, the thoughts, too, are removed from my mind."

Because of my natural curiosity streak and passion for learning, I am always exploring new angles in recapping and reviewing what I have learned before.

Here is a random collection of astute observations from the Psycho-Cybernetics classic, pertaining to what I often like to call "You-niquesness":

• “You” as a personality are not in competition with any other personality simply because there is not another person on the face of the earth like you, or in your particular class. You are an individual. You are unique. You are not “like” any other person and can never become “like” any other person. You are not “supposed” to be like any other person and no other person is “supposed” to be like you.”

• “... in finding in oneself an individuality, uniqueness, and distinctiveness that is akin to the idea of being created in the image of God.”

• “Inferiority and superiority are reverse sides of the same coin. The cure lies in realizing that the coin itself is spurious. The truth about you is this: You are not “inferior.” You are not “superior.” You are simply “You.” “You” as a personality are not in competition with any other personality simply because there is not another person on the face of the earth like you, or in your particular class. You are an individual. You are unique. You are not “like” any other person and can never become “like” any other person. You are not “supposed” to be like any other person and no other person is “supposed” to be like you.”

• “Stop measuring yourself against “their” standards. You are not “them” and can never measure up. Neither can “they” measure up to yours—nor should they. Once you see this simple, rather self-evident truth, accept it, and believe it, your inferior feelings will vanish.”

• “Dr. Norton L. Williams, a psychiatrist, addressing a medical convention, said that modern man’s anxiety and insecurity stemmed from a lack of self-realization, and that inner security can only be found “in finding in oneself an individuality, uniqueness, and distinctiveness that is akin to the idea of being created in the image of God.” He also said that self-realization is gained by “a simple belief in one’s own uniqueness as a human being, a sense of deep and wide awareness of all people and all things, and a feeling of constructive influencing of others through one’s own personality.”

• “If he feels bad because he is inferior, the cure is to make himself as good as everybody else, and the way to feel really good is to make himself superior. This striving for superiority gets him into more trouble, causes more frustration, and sometimes brings about a neurosis where none existed before. He becomes more miserable than ever, and “the harder he tries,” the more miserable he becomes.”

• “... your mental picture of yourself (is) “the strongest force within you.”

The essential message that permeates all these statements is, at least from my personal perspective:

Just be yourself. You were born original. Don't die a copy.

Your unique self is empowered and powerful. Your You-niqueness is what makes you unstoppable.

Also, bear in mind, comparison is the thief of joy.

If you continuously compete with others, you become bitter, but if you continuously compete with yourself, you become better.

In summing up, I reckon the legendary martial artist and philosopher Bruce Lee said it best:

THESE GREAT MINDS HAD SHARED A PARALLEL THOUGHT:

Limits are always self imposed! So, don't become a prisoner of your own thoughts!

Here's a quick recap of Napoleon Hill's teachings about the concept of 'Definiteness of Purpose', to serve as a preamble to what I am about to write:

"All success begins with definiteness of purpose, with a clear picture in your mind of precisely what you want in life."

"There is no hope of success for the person who does not have a central purpose, or definite goal at which to aim. Ninety-eight out of every hundred of those whom I have analyzed, had no such aim. Perhaps this was the major cause of their failure."

"Set your mind on a definite goal and observe how quickly the world stands aside to let you pass."

"There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge. Both poverty and riches are the offspring of thought."

"Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything."

"I don’t know why it is that when a man decides what he wants, the whole universe seems to come to his aid to see that he gets it."

Another interesting story to share about how a celebrity had had put the foregoing to work in the real world.

The legendary martial artist Bruce Lee appeared to have been an avid student of the works of Napoleon Hill.

Putting the principles to work, his chosen Definite Chief Aim was to become the highest paid Asian celebrity in the United States.

To make this a concrete reality, the first step he took was to put the strategic intention into physical form by writing it out:

Here it is. The rest was history!

BE LIKE WATER...

After finished writing my blogpost, entitled, 'Rock Logic, Water Logic & Possibility Coagulation', I happen to recall a beautiful & apt quote by the legendary Bruce Lee, my favourite hero, as follows:

"Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend."

~ 'Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey' (2000);

Here, he was reciting lines he wrote for his short lived role as martial arts instructor to the insurance investigator played by James Franciscus on the TV pilot series 'Longstreet' during the early seventies or so.

As we move along on the highway of life, I reckon water is definitely a perfect metaphor for a winnning attitude in today's turbulent & chaotic world.

Because water is fluid, it takes the shape of its vessel or blends with the elements it comes into contact with. Being water, it doesn’t mean not hitting an obstacle. It means hitting the obstacle & effortlesly flow around it.

And the next step is, of course, to find a new way - or maybe even to take the opportunity to exploit the obstacle - while we are around it. That's the essence of Water Logic.

THE POWER OF SOFT FOCUS

If you have enjoyed watching the legendary Bruce Lee, whose fists shook the world during the 70's, in the movies, you would probably recall one of his last movies, 'Enter the Dragon' - the one just before the 'Game of Death'.

In the opening segment of the movie, Bruce Lee was seen working with a young martial arts student, who just didn't seem to get the essence of a particular move, when asked repeatedly to kick our hero.

Bruce instructed him to do it with "feeling" or rather "emotional content", but the student still had trouble getting beyond the technique to the spirit of the move.

So, Bruce provided him with what I thought was a very beautiful illustration:

"It's like a finger pointing away to the moon", while stretching out his arm & pointing towards the sky."

At the same time, the student began to stare at Bruce's finger, & Bruce gave a quick smack on top of the seemingly bewildered student's head, saying:

"Don't look at the finger, or you'll miss all of that heavenly glory."

[Amusingly, if you had paid attention to the movie: After the lesson, the student bowed, but Bruce smacked him again, & warned him that he should not take his eyes off his opponent, even when bowing.

The student bowed one last time, but this time he kept his eyes on Bruce. Bruce said: "That's better." The student then walked away with a grin.]

What Bruce Lee had demonstrated in the movie was essentially the power of soft focus.

'Soft focus' comes about when we are gazing at what's around us, or what's ahead of us, in the far horizon, rather than staring at what's directly in front of us.

That's to say, one is totally aware of what's happening around oneself, immediate as well as beyond, when in 'soft focus'.

I would even add that, with 'soft focus', one even has this gut-feel/intuitive sense of one's surroundings, immediate as well as beyond.

Especially as a martial artist, 'soft focus' is critical to personal success.

In fact, legendary Japanese combat strategist of the 16th century, Miyamoto Musashi, excelled in it too.

In today's rapidly-changing world at accelerating pace & with increasing complexity, I believe that 'soft focus' is a prerequisite for personal as well as professional success.

It's akin to wide-angle vision, as illustrated beautifully by innovation strategist Wayne Burkan in his now classic book bearing the same name, which I had already reviewed in an earlier post.

He calls it 'splatter vision'.

He explains, from the business world perspective:

"In reality, you are unfocusing your eyes, maximising your peripheral vision, sustaining a soft focus, increasing your view of the landscape with an almost 180 degree-field-of-vision, in order to avoid becoming so focused that you expect your challenge to come from a specific direction!"

I fully agree with Wayne Burkan that 'soft focus' is a useful & powerful anticipation tool, with which you can apply to constantly scan the entire business landscape in sweeping motions in order to avoid missing "unexpected gaps", which could be potential threats &/or hidden opportunities.