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Personal Limits
Apr. 11th, 2011 05:35 amWith thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sleepyjohn00, who pointed me to this over on Facebook.
(This is an excerpt from the book, The Warrior Within, by John Little, on the philosophies of Bruce Lee.)
"Bruce had me up to three miles a day, really at a good pace. We’d run the three miles in twenty-one or twenty-two minutes. Just under eight minutes a mile.
[Note: when running on his own in 1968, Lee would get his time down to six-and-a half minutes per mile].
So this morning he said to me "We’re going to go five." I said, "Bruce, I can’t go five. I’m a hell of a lot older than you are, and I can’t do five." He said, "When we get to three, we’ll shift gears and it’s only two more and you’ll do it." I said "Okay, hell, I’ll go for it." So we get to three, we go into the fourth mile and I’m okay for three or four minutes, and then I really begin to give out. I’m tired, my heart’s pounding, I can’t go any more and so I say to him, "Bruce, if I run any more," – and we’re still running - "if I run any more I’m liable to have a heart attack and die." He said, "Then die."
It made me so mad that I went the full five miles. Afterward I went to the shower and then I wanted to talk to him about it. I said, you know, "Why did you say that?" He said, "Because you might as well be dead. Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level."
I know people like this. A powerful mentor of mine, Brian Klemmer, who passed away last week at the age of 61, lived his life in just this fashion.
The results he created speak for themselves: He has created an army of compassionate samurai - bold, ethical leaders dedicated to building a world that works for everyone, with no one left out. Thank you, Brian, for the life you lived, and the impact it left on mine.
sleepyjohn00, who pointed me to this over on Facebook.(This is an excerpt from the book, The Warrior Within, by John Little, on the philosophies of Bruce Lee.)
"Bruce had me up to three miles a day, really at a good pace. We’d run the three miles in twenty-one or twenty-two minutes. Just under eight minutes a mile.
[Note: when running on his own in 1968, Lee would get his time down to six-and-a half minutes per mile].
So this morning he said to me "We’re going to go five." I said, "Bruce, I can’t go five. I’m a hell of a lot older than you are, and I can’t do five." He said, "When we get to three, we’ll shift gears and it’s only two more and you’ll do it." I said "Okay, hell, I’ll go for it." So we get to three, we go into the fourth mile and I’m okay for three or four minutes, and then I really begin to give out. I’m tired, my heart’s pounding, I can’t go any more and so I say to him, "Bruce, if I run any more," – and we’re still running - "if I run any more I’m liable to have a heart attack and die." He said, "Then die."
It made me so mad that I went the full five miles. Afterward I went to the shower and then I wanted to talk to him about it. I said, you know, "Why did you say that?" He said, "Because you might as well be dead. Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level."
I know people like this. A powerful mentor of mine, Brian Klemmer, who passed away last week at the age of 61, lived his life in just this fashion.
The results he created speak for themselves: He has created an army of compassionate samurai - bold, ethical leaders dedicated to building a world that works for everyone, with no one left out. Thank you, Brian, for the life you lived, and the impact it left on mine.
