Absorb what is useful

"Absorb what is useful, disregard the rest, Add what is uniquely your own." ~Bruce Lee

This is one of the best pieces of advice I have ever come across. It is important because everyone perceives the world differently. This means that one piece of information may be important to one person and completely useless to another. 

Personally I like to listen to as much information as I can. If the information that is being presented is not making some kind of movement within me, I move on to the next piece of information. If there is something I find interesting I will try to listen to it more than once. I want to listen to or read that information enough to absorb what it is trying to say to me.

That is another point I would like to suggest. The same piece of information could mean two totally different things to two different people. One might be thinking about the person who is talking and be focused on how the information changed the speakers life. The second person could be thinking about how the information could benefit the project he is currently working on.

When Bruce made this statement, he was talking about martial arts. The same techniques of different martial arts may not be as effective for one person as it is for another. He wanted his students to take the techniques that were beneficial for each person and build upon them. There is no point in spending time on a technique you can't do or don't do well when there are other techniques that will get you to your goal faster. Take what works for you and build upon it. That is my suggestion.

Love, Strength & Courage

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. ~ Lao Tzu

I don't know why I like this quote. There is something truthful about the words. I wonder if it is the same for men as it is for women. I know when I think about it, women tend to give men their strength. If it wasn't for women, I don't think men would ever do anything. I think they would sit around and do as little as possible. When women (or anyone you might care for) comes into the picture, then men want to do things for her. The man wants to give her everything he possibly can. It takes courage to do that.

When that same person loves you back, that just makes you want to do more. It becomes a cycle. She loves you. That gives you the courage to do the things that will make you successful. Loving her in return makes you strong enough to continue to do the things that make him and her successful. The cycle continues as long as they continue to love each other.

So here is what I suggest that you do. Take the time to find someone who you can love. Allow that love to give you the strength you need to build your life. When she loves you back, that will give you the courage to continue to do the things you need to do to continue to grow your life together. It will take that courage to have kids and to be the parents you want to be.

Strength, Courage and Love. Those are a fantastic combination.

Make Your Better Your Best

Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best. - Tim Duncan

You should be striving to do better than you are right now. I don't care what you are doing. I don't care how well you are doing it. I think there is always room for improvement and you should have a goal to find ways to better yourself.

If you believe you are good at something, that is awesome. You should be good at it. Don't settle for just being good at it. There is probably someone out there who is better than you. Lets say you are a pretty good tennis player. You have found there is no one in your circle of friends who has been able to beat you in years. You may think you are good, but if you have the opportunity to play someone who is on a national circuit playing professionally, then you may find yourself getting beat by someone who is better than you.

That is OK though. When you lose, you have the opportunity to learn from the experience. Lean what it was that tennis player did differently to best you in the match. Befriend that player and ask lots of questions. Then you might be able to apply some of those techniques to your came to become better. Who knows, the coach of that player might have taken the time to watch you play and feels you have a potential for greatness. He might just ask you to join their team and drive around the country and give you the opportunity to play the best tennis players in the world. If that happens, you have the best opportunity to become better at the game.

If you feel you are better than you used to be and can beat most of the professional players around you, you still have the opportunity to continue to learn and to become the best tennis player of all time. The only way to do this is to keep playing till you can make your way to an international competition like Wimbledon. If you can beat every other Tennis Player in the competition, then you will be the best.

Don't settle for what you are doing in you life. Always strive to be better. If you are better, why not strive to be the best. Along that journey, make sure you are enjoying yourself. If you are not having fun becoming the best, then it is not worth the struggle. Only be the best if you enjoy what you are doing.