Not their Core Area, Yet so Smart

A while back, I expressed my surprise at Vincent van Gogh’s rational/logical side. Turns out Bruce Lee was not just brawn; he was also brain. This is what Lee had to say about perfectionism in his book, Bruce Lee: Artist of Life:

“Since this ideal (perfectionism) is an impossibility, you can never live up to it. You are merely in love with this ideal, and there is no end to the self-torture, to the self-nagging, self-castrating. It hides under the mask of “self-improvement.” It never works.”

I am sure all perfectionists can totally relate to that.

Lee also talks about the image people try and portray. No, he isn’t talking of hypocrites. Rather his remarks about people going overboard in projecting what others expect from them:

“Many people dedicate their lives to actualizing a concept of what they should be like, rather than actualizing themselves. This difference between self-actualizing and self-image actualizing is very important. Most people only live for their image.”

The downside of always trying to be what others expect from you is articulated well in Lee’s other book, Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee’s Wisdom for Daily Living:

“Most people only live for their image, that is why some have a void, because they are so busy projecting themselves as this or that, dedicating their lives to actualize a concept of what they should be like rather than to actualize their ever-growing potentiality as a human being. Wasting, dissipating all their energy in projection and conjuring up of facade, rather than centering their energy on expanding and broadening their potential.”

The correct response to the “what others expect from you” scenario is probably what Richard Feynman described:

“You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish. I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be. It's their mistake, not my failing.”

The last line in that quote above is vintage Feynman.

van Gogh on thoughts and actions. Bruce Lee on the impossibility of perfectionism and trying to be what others expect you to be. Feynman on how to deal with the pressure of expectations (and a zillion other things). All of them make so much sense…in areas not related to their core areas by a long, long stretch.