Most people know Bruce Lee as one of the greatest martial

artists ever, but his story extends much deeper than just
martial arts and movies. Bruce Lee believed in success and
overcame tremendous adversity to become one of the most
recognized names around the world. A successful actor,
entrepreneur, author, director, and martial artist, Bruce
achieved his success all before his untimely death at the
age of 32. His legacy is immortalized in everything from the
films that he made to the video game characters that bear
his resemblance and his famous Jeet Kun Do moves. This is
his story of Bruce Lee.

The Year of the Dragon

Bruce Lee was born on November 27, 1940 (The year and
the hour of the Dragon) in San Francisco, California, to a
Chinese father and a Chinese/German mother. His actual
Chinese name was Lee Jun Fan, but a hospital nurse
encouraged his mother Grace to also give him an American
name, so it was decided that Bruce would be his name in
the United States. Shortly after his birth, the family moved
back to Hong Kong where Bruce remained until the age of
nineteen.

A Trouble-Maker Teen

At the age of thirteen, after having gotten beat up by a

local Hong Kong street gang, Bruce began to seriously train
in Kung-Fu through a school taught by Sifu Yip Man, a
master of the Wing Chun system of Kung-Fu. That was the
last fight that Bruce ever lost in Hong Kong.

Bruce was a cocky and hot-tempered teen, however, and

rarely backed down to a challenge. At the age of eighteen,
Bruce's street fighting habits were already bringing the Lee
family much unwanted attention from the police. At the age
of nineteen, Bruce beat another boy in a street fight. That
boy happened to be the son of a well-feared Triad
Lieutenant (Triad is the Chinese Mafia). At that point,
Bruce's parents, fearing action from both the police and the
Triad, decided to send Bruce to San Francisco to live with
relatives. They felt that his life was limited in Hong Kong
and it was only a matter of time before Bruce would enter a
life of crime there himself.

Hitting the (American) Pavement Running

After a three-week voyage, Bruce Lee entered San

Francisco at the age of nineteen with only $115 in his
pocket. Bruce stayed with an old friend of his fathers for
several months and then set out on his own and eventually
settled in Seattle, Washington. He worked at several odd
jobs in the local Chinese communities until he settled on a
job working for a restaurant owner, Ruby Chow. There
Bruce worked as a waiter and busboy while taking courses
at Edison Technical School. The same year that Bruce
hopped off the boat from Hong Kong, he earned his high
school diploma.

The Student Becomes the Teacher

Bruce was an exceptional student of Sifu Yip Man, but he

was never officially declared a master. Yet, the passion and
the beauty of the martial arts that Bruce possessed
compelled him to share it with a society who knew very
little about the Eastern ways. Bruce would hold Kung-Fu
classes in backyards and at the city parks where he taught
his fellow students.

The Love Story That Broke Social-Norms

 
In 1961, Bruce was accepted into the University of
Washington as a Philosophy Major. As a way to meet people
and make a few extra dollars, he taught Kung-Fu to the
students at the University. One of his students was Linda
Emery who also attended the University of Washington as a
pre-medical student. Bruce took an immediate liking to
Linda. Linda was of Swedish and English descent and at the
time it was a social taboo to have an Asian man with a
Caucasian girl. Despite social taboos, on October of 1963,
Bruce took Linda out for their first date and the two became
very close from that day forward. Three years later, in
1964, Bruce proposed to Linda. The two got married later
that year.

Bruce Lee's Fight for the Right to Teach Everyone

As a martial arts teacher, Bruce never cared about race. His

philosophy was to teach all those who had the desire to
learn. But in the 1960s, race was a touchy subject across
America and prejudice existed, not only against minorities,
but also within the Chinese community. Many in the
California Chinese community felt that Bruce was violating
their code not to share their secrets with those who were
non-Chinese. At the time, Bruce had two Kung-Fu Institutes
in Seattle and Oakland, where he taught anyone who
walked in his doors.

In 1965, at the age of 24, Bruce was challenged by Jack

Man Wong, a leading kung-fu practitioner in the Chinatown
District of Oakland. The terms: If Jack won, then Bruce
would agree to either close his Kung-Fu Institutes or stop
teaching Caucasians. If Bruce won, then Jack would stop
teaching altogether. The fight lasted only about a minute
with Bruce reigning victorious, but afterwards, Bruce was
bothered at why it took him so long to beat Jack Man Wong
and reevaluated his style of Kung-Fu to incorporate more
aspects of other martial arts such as Karate, Muay Thai, and
Judo.

The Green Hornet or the Kato Show?

In 1966, Bruce got his big break as an actor came when he

was chosen to play the part of Kato, alongside actor Van
Williams, in the television series, The Green Hornet. With
the success of the television show, Batman, ABC was eager
to try out this pilot that was based on the popular comic
book. During the screen tests, the producers were initially
worried that Bruce's "oriental" looks would turn off viewers,
but partly because he would be wearing a mask the entire
time and even more so because of his superhuman martial
arts abilities, the producers decided to star Bruce in the
supporting role. Unbeknownst to everyone at ABC, Bruce's
martial arts ability was so phenomenal on screen that his
character became more favored with audience viewers than
the Green Hornet himself. When the television show was
syndicated in Hong Kong, it was relabeled from The Green
Hornet to The Kato Show.

Handling Racial Prejudice in Hollywood

In 1969, the television show, The Green Hornet, aired its

final episode and Bruce was trying to find another television
role. Warner Brother's approached Bruce for his input on a
new pilot that they were working on called Kung-Fu. Bruce
worked very hard on the project, giving the screen writers
and directors his input, but then Warner Brothers
announced that they had selected Caucasian actor, David
Carradine, for the role instead of Bruce Lee. It's been
speculated that Bruce was never considered for the main
role because viewers might not be ready for Bruce's
"Oriental" looks.

The Injury That Almost Ended His Career

On August 13, 1970, Bruce was weight lifting when he

heard a loud popping sound from his back accompanied
with tremendous pain. He tried to remedy his back pain
with heat and massage treatments, but the pain worsened
and he had no choice but to go to seek medical help. The
medical doctors told Bruce that he would never kick again
and for the next six months, Bruce was confined to a bed.
During that time, Bruce began to delve into the concepts
and philosophy of Jeet Kun Do and complied volumes of
handwritten notes on the subject. After his death, his wife
Linda had these notes published as a best-selling book, The
Tao of Jeet Kun Do. After six months, Bruce was able to
move around again and he went back to doing heavy
exercises to regain the strength and the muscle that he had
lost while he was bed ridden. In another six months, Bruce
brought himself back to his prime shape, although he did
suffer from back pain for the rest of his life.

Bruce Lee's Vision Letter

Angry after having been burnt by Warner Brothers and

frustrated at the lack of opportunities in Hollywood for an
Asian American actor, Bruce sat down one night and wrote
a letter to himself.

"By 1980, I will be the best known oriental movie star in

the United States and will have secured $10 million
dollars... And in return, I will give the very best acting I
could possibly give every single time I am in front of the
camera and I will live in peace and harmony."

In 1973, months after Bruce's untimely death, the

blockbuster movie Enter the Dragon was released in both
the United States and China, elevating Bruce to the level of
an international star. According to Jack Canfield, that very
letter that Bruce wrote to himself is hanging up on one of
the walls at Planet Hollywood in New York City.

Bruce Lee Lands His Success

Not long after Bruce wrote his promise to himself, he took

an opportunity presented to him by a Hong Kong film studio
with starring roles in The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, and The
Way of the Dragon. These films elevated Bruce to an icon
status in Hong Kong. Then in 1973, Bruce got the break
that he had been waiting for when a joint American/Hong
Kong production was set to shoot titled, Enter the Dragon,
which was the movie that would catapult Bruce into
Hollywood stardom. Unfortunately, Bruce suffered his
untimely death only days before Enter the Dragon hit the
big screen, but it elevated Bruce into American stardom
that he had been working hard to achieve.

The Essentials of Bruce Lee's Success

What drove Bruce to do so much at such an early age?

What was his mindset? Bruce never was one to remain idle.
He never considered himself a master, but rather a student-
master, who was always eager to learn more about his
craft. Here are some lessons we can learn from Bruce Lee:
▪ You must train consistently if you want to become
better. There's a reason why Bruce was the greatest
martial artist of his time and it wasn't because he was
 lazy. Bruce trained his body everyday and it would
upset him if he missed a workout. If you too desire to
become the best in your area of passion, then you will
have to commit yourself towards training everyday to
enhance your performance.

▪ You must learn and grow. Bruce had a voracious

appetite for books. His personal library contained
some 2,500 books from all different fields. Besides
martial arts books, Bruce read quite a few personal
development books from authors such as Napoleon
Hill, W. Clement Stone and Dale Carnegie. He never
saw himself as a master of anything. He told people
that he had skill in the martial arts, but he was still
learning, and that was true with his own personal
development as well. He continued to expand his
knowledge and to grow himself personally.  

▪ The biggest enemy that you'll ever fight is yourself.

Bruce had to overcome some major obstacles in his
path on his rise towards personal success. He had to
overcome poverty, racial prejudice, prejudice within
the Chinese community, financial woes, injuries, and
lost opportunities. Any one of these obstacles could
have easily erased Bruce Lee from popular culture, but
it was his die-hard commitment not to let himself give
up that made him what he is today. 

An absolute focus and determination to succeed.

Bruce started his adult life here with only $115 and a big
dream. Only ten years later, Bruce was training Hollywood
notables like Steve McQueen, James Colburn, and Kareem
Abul-Jabbar.  Bruce attributed his quick rise to success
through his focus and his obsessive determination to get
what he wanted.