We have selected 30 statements by Bruce that will make you think: about love, marriage, personal development, freedom, death, memory and much more. Read and absorb.
Based on materials from the book
Business development is driven by the market, not you. Your job as an entrepreneur is to allow it to happen and then “move” out of the way. Like any startup, you are hungry - but it is a combination of several factors that triggers it. The disruptive value of a product that appeals to users motivates them to invite friends, who invite their friends, and so on. In other words, the product needs viral potential.
But most businesses don't achieve truly explosive growth. User attention is a limited resource; all brands lack it. Therefore, only single products will be able to “break through” to the top. But even those who catch the wave of “unbridled” growth suffer from serious obstacles on the path to success. Here's a three-part process for product growth and development, as outlined by Tyler Hayes of Medium.com:
A formula that should be engraved on the door of all startup accelerators:
Startups = growth, and growth = eliminating friction.
The main problem of young companies is that they forget that “the market comes first,” and they need to do what users want. As Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator, said:
“The goal of a startup is to create something that people will like. Once you've done this, figure out how to increase your number of users. But the first component is critically important - remember really successful companies modernity. They all started with a product that made their audience fall in love with it and motivated them to tell others about it. If you don't achieve this, you will fail. And self-deception will not help. The startup graveyard is full of projects that neglected this step.”
So, you need to first understand what people want and then give it to them as often as necessary. - this is not an elimination, but an increase in friction. This does not mean that adding new features and functionality is prohibited. But do this when innovations allow you to perform actions requested by people without the corresponding functionality.
The audience already needs certain tools (whether they understand it or not) - and you are simply satisfying a ready-made desire. You don't create it, you define it. Find a key user need and make satisfying it as easy/fast/fun as possible.
In an interview with Wired, the founder of Blogger, Twitter, and Medium, Ev Williams, shared his strategy for creating a billion-dollar business:
“Take a desire that has been relevant for a long time. Then define this desire and through modern technologies motivate the person to take steps towards his satisfaction.”
Growth is like water. It takes any form, taking into account limiting factors. It depends on you how successfully you remove the restrictions.
“Become amorphous, formless like water. When water is poured into a cup, it becomes the cup. When water is poured into a teapot, it becomes a teapot. When water is poured into a bottle, it becomes a bottle. Water can flow, or it can destroy. Be water, my friend,” Bruce Lee once said.
Determine growth areas based on your product. Then remove everything unnecessary that the user encounters along the way.
Your startup's growth is likely limited by friction. Most products don't explode in popularity right away; it's extremely difficult to achieve. Even Facebook was stuck at the 100 million user plateau, and it took a conscious effort to break through. At that time, the concept of “growth hacking” and “growth specialists” did not exist in Silicon Valley, so Facebook was forced to open them up. The hard work that led to growth to one and a half billion monthly visitors seems less difficult in retrospect. But someone had to walk this path first and collect all the “bumps” so that the next generations of growth hackers could follow the beaten path.
Former Facebook vice president Chamath Palihapitiya says the company grew while creating its current growth team concept.
Chamath argues that growth is a simple and elegant understanding of product value and consumer behavior, rather than an attempt to instill new user habits.
In a nutshell, Facebook has attracted a billion users (and angered a lesser known 100 million) without any secret tactics or crazy tools. The company simply went back to basics and carried out a ruthless “recapitulation.” Chamath created a work environment where employees could quickly test and measure the 3 most important aspects consumer products:
Growth is a process, not an end goal. Try, test, measure, try again. And so - constantly.
Growing the number of users is a closed cycle. Most startups mistakenly believe that growth is just about acquiring customers. This reduces the process to the top of the funnel, when in fact, business development depends just as much (if not more) on the bottom of the funnel - that is, repeat purchases and customer retention.
The most valuable customers are those who consistently use your product. In the SaaS industry, this is called “retention,” which is the most important metric in online marketing.
Why is it so valuable? Simply, retention measures the number of your most loyal users—people who love the product and recommend it to others, which has a beneficial effect on the development cycle.
Alex Schultz, Facebook's VP of Growth, asks, "Where is your retention asymptote?"
Let's rephrase: after a few weeks, what percentage of your customers are still using the app regularly?
If you end up with a retention curve that is asymptote to a line parallel to the X-axis, then you have built a viable business with Product/Market Fit. Simply put:
IN agriculture There is a saying: “Cattle graze where the grass is greener.” Of course, we don't consider our customers to be cattle :) But ask yourself: who uses the product (eats grass) most often? Where do they do this? The answers will show you product-market fit and help you identify your most loyal users.
Great startups are built by founders who developed products they themselves lacked. But they were lucky - the problems of these loners coincided with the interests and tastes of an ocean of clients. Growth comes from the market, not from you.
Your job as an entrepreneur is to effectively reduce friction. Engage a team that: reduces friction in the core value of the product, and increases awareness. These are the steps that lead to growth.
I say empty your mind, be amorphous, formless, like water. You pour water into a cup, it becomes a cup, you pour water into a bottle, it becomes a bottle, you pour water into a teapot, it becomes a teapot. Water can flow, or it can destroy. If my friend were water... You should have seen how he used to behave on tour. Mountains of grass plus a sea of alcohol. After the concert, the whole crowd go to my room, and the next day in another city to perform with a binge. Now people don’t understand what it is. When I refuse the pipe, why is he chasing? I'll tell you a secret, it's not willpower. I, so to speak, switched to something else. So my police can sleep peacefully. Lesha no longer smokes, in general, in kind. Better give me a kettle with hot water. Or let me do it myself, just show me where the cooler is. And damn, now I have nothing forbidden in my suitcase. Just a good supply of tea. And when I fly to other cities, I only need an outlet; so far there has always been water. It's not drugs, he's not high, is he? Well, yes, but tea comes in different varieties, and there are dangerous varieties. I compiled the top three for some reason and decided to draw some parallels. I can compare Pu-erh to an amphetamine. I don’t drink it often, but it gets me going too much. I brew a thermos and take it with me in the car And little by little throughout the day, the day can be long. In second place I have Tie Guan Yin, it’s like a plank. It goes as it should, a glass after a glass. He speaks so kindly and gently even to girls, but it’s better in the presence of a boy. So, I boldly give the first line of my hit parade to the big red robe. What I like is this - yes hong pao The tea drunkard is here, Vasya, get the poison. I love tea like a panda loves bamboo Just like Le Truk loves to blow grass. In tea powder without deception, no, this is not a trick. Put the kettle on the stove. I always have a dozen grams with me, trust the stuff from my hands, like boiling water. Packaged weight or pressed circle. This is a tea drinker. Well, Vasyanya, shall we sit down? There is maleha da hong pao, puerchika and shuixiana. Do you smoke? Don't smoke? Beautiful I'm quitting too. Kidding. It just... into the stall, and it stuck pretty hard. How many tea drunks have spread across the country? Is staff brewed without gaiwan? In some nailed-down hut, a tile, a saucepan, a charge and a full blast. Our brother is not very popular at food outlets. Waitress, dear, can I have a decanter of boiling water? More boiling water, more boiling water. Are you going to order anything? No, just boiling water. I'm going through security at the airport. Your backpack, so what do you have here? Witnesses, search, in short, everything is muddied. The captain reports on the radio: We found drugs. This whole story gathers a crowd, the Captain takes the grass out of his backpack, and there you go, TGshka, puerchik, yes hun And I have nothing to say to this sucker. (Marijuana) I feel like I’m drowning. If you want, smoke it. I’ll pour it out and break it off. I’ll put this poison into your cigarette myself. Just smoke, captain, why ask? He did not share my mood, and we proceeded to the line department. A whole council of people gathered there, sniffing and chewing. They want to close Vasily. Yes it grows. Yes it dries. Yes it is packaged. Special containers are used for consumption. Do you want to make this case jurisdictional? Article 228 on special tea sub-clauses? Confiscation of poison, poison and burg Thank God, there are people there who have stirred up the pressure of the circle. In Moscow, upon arrival, I went to the line administration. Che captain, did you taste the poison? And he’s on a light dry spell, his eyes look like he’s been smoking Tashkent all day (smoking Tashkent). I'm talking about tea, or rather about its return. And he whispers to me: There's no tea, it's gone somewhere. I love tea like a panda loves bamboo Just like Le Truk loves to blow grass. In tea powder without deception, no, this is not a trick. Put the kettle on the stove. I always have a dozen grams with me, Trust the stuff from my hands, like boiling water Packaged weight or compressed circle This is a tea drinker, keep in mind I love tea, like a panda loves bamboo Just like
You will never get more out of life than you expect. Focus your thoughts on what you want and what you don't. Be a calm witness to what is happening inside you. No one can hurt you until you allow them. Inside yourself, on a psychological level, be nobody.
By recognizing that my emotions can be both positive and negative, I will develop the habit of experiencing more positive emotions and help myself transform negative ones into some useful activity.
Recognizing willpower as the supreme court of all departments of my mind, I will use it daily when I need a push to take action for any purpose; and I will develop the habit of using willpower at least once a day.
Cinema is a combination of commercial creativity and creative commerce.
Spontaneity always wins in battle. Cramming always loses.
I am not afraid of the one who studies ten thousand different blows. I fear the one who studies one blow ten thousand times.
Don't think, feel! It's like pointing your finger at the moon. Don't concentrate on your finger, or you'll miss this divine beauty.
Get all the great teachers together in one room and they will agree on everything. Gather their disciples together and they will argue with each other on everything.
Bruce Lee plays table tennis with nunchaku:
A good fighter is not the one who is tense, but the one who is ready. He doesn't think or dream, he's ready for anything that might happen.
Even the strongest tree is easier to break than bamboo or willow shoots bending in the wind.
Mistakes are always forgiven if you have the courage to admit them.
If you love life, do not waste time - time is what life is made of.
Bruce Lee lights a match to the nunchaku:
Empty your mind. Become amorphous, formless like water. When water is poured into a cup, it becomes the cup. When water is poured into a teapot, it becomes a teapot. When water is poured into a bottle, it becomes a bottle. Water can flow, or it can destroy. Be water, my friend.
My choice is martial arts, my profession is actor. My main role is the artist of life.
At all times, the end of heroes was the same as the end ordinary people. They all died, and memories of them gradually faded from people's memories. But while we are alive, we must understand ourselves, understand ourselves and express ourselves.
To control myself, I must first accept myself, not acting against my nature, but following it.
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee (Li Zhenfan) is not just a film actor, director and martial artist. He combined physical strength with metaphysical philosophy. He is a legend whose name is passed down with reverence from generation to generation.
Lee began training kung fu in the mid-1950s. His first teacher was Ip Man, who preached the Wing Chun style.
In 1959, Lee left Hong Kong and went to America, first to San Francisco, then to Seattle. In the USA, he opened a martial arts school and began teaching his own style of kung fu - Jeet Kune Do ("The Way of the Leading Fist").
The simple way is the right way. In a fight, no one cares about beauty. The main thing is confidence, honed skills and accurate calculations. Therefore, in the Jeet Kune Do method, I tried to reflect the principle of “survival of the fittest.” Less empty movements and energy - closer to the goal.
In 1971, at the peak of his film career, Bruce Lee starred in the TV series Longstreet. In one episode, Lee uttered a phrase based on the Chinese philosophy of wu wei (contemplative passivity) and which became very popular.
Become formless, incorporeal, like water. When you pour water into a cup, it becomes the cup; you pour water into a teapot, it takes the shape of a teapot. Water can flow or destroy. Be water, my friend.
However, the famous aphorism does not explain Bruce's entire philosophy of water and how he came to it. In 2001, John Little, who has written many books about Lee, published a collection of previously unpublished letters, notes and poems by the actor - Bruce Lee: Artist of Life. This is an invaluable resource for understanding Bruce Lee's views on life, love, parenting and martial arts.
Apparently, the philosophy of water came to Lee after disappointment: he could not comprehend the “art of detachment” that Ip Man taught him. Here's what Bruce writes about this.
When the acuteness of my self-awareness reached what psychologists call a double bind, the Teacher came to me and said: “Keep yourself, follow the natural curves of things, be detached. Remember: never go against nature, never directly resist problems, but control them by turning where they lead. Leave training for a week - go home and think about it."
Bruce did just that.
After spending many hours in meditation and spiritual practice, I finally gave in and set off on a solo junk voyage. At sea I thought about my training. This made me angry - I hit the water. And at that moment one thought struck me. Doesn't water represent the essence of kung fu? I hit her, but she didn't feel any pain. I struck again, with all my strength, and she was again invulnerable. Then I tried to hold her. But this turned out to be impossible. However, water, the softest substance in the world that can be placed even in a tiny vessel, only seems weak. In fact, it can destroy the hardest matter on earth. I wish I was water.
Suddenly a bird flew by, casting a reflection on the water surface. Then I absorbed another lesson, another hidden mystical meaning was revealed to me: in battle, in the face of the enemy, your thoughts and emotions should be like the reflection of flying birds on the water. This is exactly what Teacher Yip meant when he said “be detached.” This did not mean not having feelings - it meant not being burdened and not suffocating them alone. To control myself, I must first accept myself, not acting contrary to my nature, but following it.
Quoting a famous saying of Lao Tzu, Li wrote:
The natural phenomenon that most closely reflects the essence of wu wei in kung fu is water.
Water is the softest and weakest creature in the world, but in overcoming the hard and strong it is invincible, and there is no equal in the world.
This is an excerpt from the Tao Te Ching. He reveals the being of water. The water is so beautiful that it is impossible to squeeze it into a fist, hit it, it knows no pain. Pierce it with a knife - you won't hurt it. Tear it apart and it will remain intact. It has no shape - water takes the shape of the vessel into which it is poured. If you heat it up, it becomes an invisible vapor, but it has so much power that it can split the thickness of the earth. Freezing, the water crystallizes and turns into powerful blocks. The water can be as fast as Niagara Falls or as calm as a pond. It is terrifying in a raging stream and refreshing on a hot summer day. This is the principle of wu wei.
Rivers and seas are the rulers of hundreds of valleys. This is because their strength is in humility; they are kings over everything. Want to conquer them? Follow them.
In other words, if you transfer the philosophy of martial arts to everyday life, before you fight with circumstances, you should try to adapt to them. You need to be soft, like water, susceptible to rapidly changing circumstances. The flow of life itself will lead you to happiness. Only really strong storms are worth resisting. If you row against the current all the time, you will quickly become exhausted and go to the bottom.
Do you share Bruce Lee's water philosophy?
