Bruce Lee had a philosophy of no limitations. He collected the teachings of masters and melded them to form his own beliefs, style, and philosophy called Jeet Kune Do. Your challenge is to do the same. To move through life without limitations - collecting the thoughts, insights, lessons, and strategies to break free from average and maximize potential. You must find your Jeet Kune Do. Listen now to learn more.
Hunter Powers: Welcome to The One. I'm your host, Hunter Powers, broadcasting live from our nation's capital, D.C. Proper, Washington, D.C. Today's one idea is Jeet Kune Do. Jeet Kune Do is the style of martial arts created by, invented by, collected by, manifested by Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee is probably the most famous martial artist of all time and if you want to make an argument that he's not the most famous, well, he's still up there. Now, Bruce Lee is probably known for Kung Fu and bringing Kung Fu to a Western audience. But Bruce Lee brought his own style of martial arts and invented his own style, which he called Jeet Kune Do. But there was a lot of controversy in his style, in one that he was bringing Kung Fu to the Western audience, revealing all of their secrets, but also Bruce's style was different. Bruce Lee had a philosophy of no limitations.
Hunter Powers: He learned and studied from many different masters. He would take the pieces that worked from each of them and bring them together into one. So his style was not really one style, but a collection of styles that he formed together. The no limitations part was important because he believed that there wasn't anywhere that you shouldn't look for inspiration and that it was possible to disagree with the vast majority of what someone thought or stood for or did, but still find the bit of good in it and extract it and that it was okay to take that on and so formed his style of Jeet Kune Do. Now this podcast isn't really about martial arts, but it is about finding our own Jeet Kune Do, looking to others, and trying to find the nuggets of wisdom that we can employ and push ourselves forward and trying to do our best to set no limitations on that search, which is incredibly challenging.
Hunter Powers: While perfection lies in the subtlety and balance, understanding lies in the extreme. Too much of anything is probably not good, but it's hard to really understand something with just a tiny little bit. So the easy way to learn is to take something to its extreme. It becomes much easier to identify, play with it, be influenced by it and understand its implications. But then the skill is dialing it back down to find that balance with everything else. But the people that are teaching the ideas almost have to be in the extreme. They have to take it to the nth degree. The people that are out there on the edge advocating for something, espousing their belief because they are trying to educate others, they have to push it to an extreme and these extremes are very divisive. They tend to be all or nothing affairs. Then when you go and try to understand these ideas, you're instantly associated with them and perhaps others look negatively upon it.
Hunter Powers: But if you can understand that process, if you can understand the process of your Jeet Kune Do, then it can all make a lot more sense. You search for new knowledge, you search for loud voices, you search for the people operating at the edge who are pushing the limits and try to understand what makes them tick. You then take that essence, boil it down and bring it back. I'll give a more practical example. An example from the theater, an example from a directing an actor. There's someone on stage and they're playing out a scene and you would like them to be 5% angrier. Can you just be 5% angrier? Could you dial it up just a tiny little bit? This is a very hard thing to do, to be 5% angrier. Think now how you might go about being 5% angrier about something. So there's a tactic when faced with this challenge, which is you take that anger to an extreme.
Hunter Powers: I want you to be 300% as angry. You probably have an idea how you might become 300% as angry, becoming 5% angrier and what changes and what subtleties and differences there are. That's probably a bit of a mystery. But 300% angrier, now you're throwing things, you're saying things that can't be repeated. You're jumping up and down. Consequences will never be the same, and so now you're there and now we dial it back down. Okay, a little bit less, calm down a little bit more, a little bit more, a little bit more until we dial you back down to that 5% and this is much easier for a person to do. Go to the extreme, dial it back, dial it back to that subtle balance of perfection. That's what Bruce Lee did. He went around. He learned from many different masters. He studied the craft. He identified all of the extremes and then dialed them back into the subtlety in balance of perfection.
Hunter Powers: Some scoffed at him for mixing and matching and taking secrets from one area and bringing them to another area. But that's how you truly innovate. If you just did the same thing as everyone else is doing, you'll get the same result as everyone else. That's the funny thing about it, isn't it? Everyone wants you to follow the normal path. This is what an average person does in the situation and the expectation is that you will do exactly the same, but you're not looking for an average result. If you don't want an average result, you're going to have to do something that's not average and to find something that's not average, you're going to have to go and explore these extremes and figure out the new take on it, the new innovation to get you where you want to go. Or at a minimum to break free so that you can see it all and choose your destination, to find your Jeet Kune Do, and that is your one idea for today. I am Hunter Powers broadcasting live from our nation's capital, as we say, in the city, D.C. Proper. Until next time.