給自己的信

My Definite Chief Aim

(Source: Bruce Lee aficionado, Jake Fillon; Image of Bruce Lee.) 

 

 

 

When he wrote the following mission statement in January of 1969, Bruce Lee was 28 years of age and a minor TV star in the United States, having featured in a number of shows which included, most notably, the ill-fated Green Hornet series. With his second child recently born and no financial security to speak of, the clearly determined founder of Jeet Kune Do decided to put his "definite chief aim" down on paper.

 

 

 

The rest is history.

李小龍成名前給自己的札記，明確目標、以表心迹。原文以英語表達，寫於1969年元月，时年28。當時在美國電視連續劇《青蜂侠》的演出仍未能为李小龍帶來理想的職業認同。剛剛再為人父的李小龍，面對二娃未來的生活，從經濟層面上說是毫無安全感可言的。就在如此境況下，李小龍給自己寫出了以下的文字：

【我的終極目標】

「我，李小龍，會成為美國第一個片酬最高的東方超級巨星，為此，我將竭盡所能，把演員本份做到最好，做出最刺激精采的演出。由1970年開始，我會舉世知名，到1980年會賺夠1,000萬美元，過著隨心所欲的生活，并安享內心的平和與喜樂。」 

 

 

Transcript follows.

 

 

Transcript

SECRET

My Definite Chief Aim

I, Bruce Lee, will be the first highest paid Oriental super star in the United States. In return I will give the most exciting performances and render the best of quality in the capacity of an actor. Starting 1970 I will achieve world fame and from then onward till the end of 1980 I will have in my possession $10,000,000. I will live the way I please and achieve inner harmony and happiness.

Bruce Lee
Jan. 1969

 

BRUCE LEE’S DEFINITE CHIEF AIM

 

Above you find a Bruce Lee letter I saved on my computer some months ago. I found it on Letters of Note – a website that collects and shares awesome letters, postcards and memos of famous people. You should definitely follow them on Twitter. Here’s the transcript:

SECRET

My Definite Chief Aim

I, Bruce Lee, will be the first highest paid Oriental super star in the United States. In return I will give the most exciting performances and render the best of quality in the capacity of an actor. Starting 1970 I will achieve world fame and from then onward till the end of 1980 I will have in my possession $10,000,000. I will live the way I please and achieve inner harmony and happiness.

Bruce Lee
Jan. 1969

When watching I Am Bruce Lee last week – a really cool docu on the legendary martial artist (Kobe’s in there as well; check it out!) – I got reminded of this letter Lee wrote to himself in which he writes down his goals for the future and puts a time limit on them. He named it “My Definite Chief Aim”.

What I liked about it is that he looks at himself from a distance, objectively. At the time he wrote down these words he actually had financial problems and was in need of a change. So he decided to stop fucking around, look at what he could offer the world and do what had to be done to achieve his dreams. And most importantly he put a time limit on it.

In the letter he wrote out his Grand Strategy which would become his driving force. It allowed him to look beyond his present financial concerns and instead focus on what he wanted to achieve down the line. Everything he’d be doing during the time period of January 1969 to January 1970 would contribute and help him get closer to his Definite Chief Aim.

He learns us that setting goals and actually writing them down makes it real. It helps us – as war strategist Sun Tzuwould say – think in terms not of individual battles but of a campaign. A campaign towards our Definite Chief Aim.

Steven Pressfield actually compared this perspective with that of a corporation and said it like this in The War of Art:

“If we think of ourselves as a corporation, it gives us a healthy distance on ourselves. We’re less subjective. We don’t take blows as personally. We’re more cold-blooded; we can price our wares more realistically. Sometimes, as Joe Blow himself, I’m too mild-mannered to go out and sell. But as JOE BLOW, Inc., I can pimp the hell out of myself. I’m not me anymore. I’m ME, Inc.
I’m a pro.”

So what is your Definite Chief Aim? In one year, two years, five years what will you achieve? And what steps are you taking today?

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2011/03/my-definite-chief-aim.html
http://eliteathletes.be/2012/09/bruce-lee-definite-chief-aim/
http://www.fb.com/1000000Story/posts/236631579836556