Bruce Lee's Greatest Gift

RECENTLY, someone asked me what the greatest thing was that I’ve learned from Bruce Lee and Jeet Kune Do.

- Jason Korol

Frankly, I hadn’t stopped to think about it in those terms, so I stood there for a short while thinking. Initially, I thought to say it was simplicity—the intellectual discipline to always break things down to their foundation, to avoid unnecessary complication.

Yeah, that was almost out of my mouth when something more elemental occurred…

Dedication.

That was it. Dedication. Bruce Lee was utterly and unreservedly dedicated to his goals. Whatever he did, he threw himself into it with ruthless tenacity and resolve. For Lee, there were no half measures, no “let’s check and see if it works out”, no passivity, and absolutely no equivocation. He was all-in, all the time. He was the poster-child for excellence gained through persistence and laser-like focus.

Yep. That’s it. That’s the major thing I’ve taken from my years of being a student of Lee’s method of Jeet Kune Do.

So, let’s talk about this for a second. The thing I’ve noticed in life, especially as an instructor, is there is absolutely no success without commitment. This is the thing I try to convey to every single student. I try and instil Lee’s work ethic into everyone because it’s the one thing they (the student) must have to be successful.