The 4 idea principles that Bruce Lee gave me to gain inspiration for new ideas

The 4 idea principles that Bruce Lee gave me to gain inspiration for new ideas

Bruce Lee, on-set of the Film "Enter the Dragon", 1973

Bruce Lee was not just a martial artist

Now I thought Bruce Lee was “just” a cool guy.

As an icon of the 1960’s and 70’s he was as cool as Elvis, good looking as a C2 Covette and what’s more he was buddies with Steve McQueen! What I was unaware of until very recently was that while he was brilliant physical athlete, acrobat and martial artist he was also a pretty clever bloke.

He studied philosophy at college and read avidly from cultures around the world: western, eastern; ancient and modern.

Recently I have read the book “Striking Thoughts: Wisdom for everyday living". I have him to thank for the title of my first book Agile Fu and also for nuggets of wisdom in Innovation Muscle, my second title.

You can deep dive into the book and read it from cover to cover as I initially did or alternatively use it for reference from time to time.

Each time I do I am treated to another clever bit of well cleverness that leaves me thinking “how clever”.

The 4 Ideal Principles of Bruce Lee

In the Four Idea Principles Lee Describes how everyone should create ideas

1. Find a human need, an unsolved problem
2. Master all of the essentials of the problem
3. Give a new “twist” to an old principles
4. Believe in your idea and ACT

To develop this creative attitude Bruce suggests the following actions.

1. Analyze focus on the wanted SOLUTION
2. Seek out and fill your mind with FACTS
3. Write down the IDEAS both sensible and seemingly wild
4. Let the facts and ideas SIMMER in your mind
5. Evaluate, recheck, settle on the CREATIVE IDEAS

Bruce’s book is available in physical form only from Amazon

If you are interested in the process of thinking or philosophy I urge you to dismiss any preconceptions that certainly I had over Bruce and check it out.

If for some reason you have never seen Bruce in action, here is some rare footage of Bruce in action in a Hollywood screen test.

If you liked this

I hope that you have found this article of interest.. If you did then I have written more ideas with techniques to make your innovations punch above their weight. I call my book Innovation Muscle. Its a short sharp read as to how you and your team can innovate fresh powerful ideas. Using these processes you will be able to create ideas that punch above their weight.

You can download my book by clicking here: INNOVATION MUSCLE

Anyone purchasing the book will receive not one, but TWO FREE mini e-books that are supplied directly as PDF files to your inbox. These can be distributed to you team when starting a new project or used simply to sanity check your existing processes.

Until next time 

Paul

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