Bruce Lee famously and eloquently once said: “Don’t get set into one form: adapt it and build your own, and let it grow. Be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; you put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; you put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
Here was a life cut short far too early.
We’ve all met people who are like water. They’re people who can step into any workplace setting and find their feet quickly and easily. They can mix with all different types of people. They adapt, they become what they need to become to suit the task at hand.
I love the way Bruce Lee also hints at the power and backbone behind water: water can flow or it can crash. Just because the water can mould itself to its surroundings doesn’t mean it can’t command attention, doesn’t mean it’s weak or can be pushed around. Anyone who has tried to fight the current in a rough ocean can attest to that.
So what can I learn from Bruce’s wise words today?
To see the people who are like water around me and look to learn this skill from them. To seek to become more adaptable (I look forward to becoming a teapot!) And to learn to empty my mind more often.
How can you be more like water today?
Kirsty Dunphey is the youngest ever Australian Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year, author of two books (her latest release is Retired at 27, If I Can do it Anyone Can) and a passionate entrepreneur who started her first business at age 15 and opened her own real estate agency at 21. Now Kirsty does lots of fun things which you can read about here. Her favourite current projects are Elephant Property, a boutique property management agency, Baby Teresa, a baby clothing line that donates an outfit to a baby in need for each one they sell andReallySold, which helps real estate agents stop writing boring, uninteresting ads.
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