ABCD of ‘Sustainable Success’ for MBA Students & Management Aspirants: Learnings from Bruce Lee

Success refers to achieving the outcome, that we have planned & desired, for the efforts & resources we put in. Many MBA students or management aspirants quite often have discussion on how to sustain this success for long duration? In our routine life, we come across many instances, where people attain some level of success in the short-term but post that, they do not able to sustain it or repeat that kind of success for the long-term. There are many celebrities, sports personalities, corporates & entrepreneurs also, who have faced similar problem of not being able to sustain their initial success. However, on the other hand there are some others who have managed to sustain their success for long-term, like Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachchan, Indra Nooyi, Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Indu Jain & so on. So, what are the key differences between these two sets of people? How this other group of people could able to sustain their success for long-term? Let us try to understand this puzzle from the perspective of one of the legendary fighters, Bruce Lee.
Most of the times, we have heard this name ‘Bruce Lee’ as a Martial Art expert and Hollywood actor for his popular action movies. However, in addition, he was a great philosopher also, and several books have been published on his philosophy. Taking some insights from Bruce Lee’s philosophy, let us explore some learning, which will help us in determining the answers to the questions raised above on, how to achieve the sustainable success.

Adopt a Strong Desire to Excel Yourself
We all must have a strong desire to improve & excel our efforts, but in this process, we should not compare ourselves with others. The aim must be to surpass our own previous best efforts, by putting our best. Further, there is a famous quote by Bruce Lee, which guide us on how to execute this thought of excelling ourselves:
“It is not a daily increase, but a daily decrease. Hack away at the inessentials.”
Thus, we must reduce the distractions, inessential tasks & unnecessary thoughts, so that it will enable us to remain focused towards outshining & excelling ourselves.

Build the Habit of Finishing the Things We start
We quite often get motivated to start certain new tasks or things, in the form of new year resolutions, reading a new book or doing some value-added course. However, majority of the times, people leave these tasks in-between due to ‘n’ number of reasons or so-called excuses. If this becomes somebody’s habit, then it affects their work ethics and additionally spoils their mindset & overall efforts, while performing any other tasks. Bruce Lee’s following quote guide us on how to keep ourselves out of this vicious cycle.
“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.”
This action-oriented quote guides us that mere knowing or having awareness that we should do this or do that is not sufficient, but we must be able to execute this awareness & actually put our best efforts to complete that task.

Consistent Practice
We all have some strengths & core competencies related to our area of interest or profession. We must continuously & consistently practice to improve these strengths & core competencies, to keep ourselves relevant to the fast-changing industry trends. Moreover, this practice should be done with same level of enthusiasm & efforts. In recent times, Virat Kohli is one of the best examples of this trait and he is practicing this from several years now, which reflects in the consistency of his performance.
In the words of Bruce Lee, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times” which very aptly states the significance of consistent practice.

Do things Differently
Innovation & creativity are the most trending terms and in majority of the sectors, experts are accepting its importance for the success of any individual or organization. Bruce Lee was also a strong believer of this thought process of doing things differently and therefore, he developed “Jeet kune do” a modern martial art incorporating the elements of kung fu, fencing, and boxing. On this innovative perspective Bruce Lee has quoted “Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.”