Bruce Lee: Be Like Water (How to Adapt to Anything Life Throws at You) | by Thomas Oppong | Oct, 2022

Almost everything in life is a mind game!

Bruce Lee is one of the most famous martial artists in the world, and for a good reason. Not only was he a master of his craft, but he brought it to the masses in ways other fighters never had.

In addition to being a movie star and an excellent fighter, he was also an expert at communicating his ideas. In fact, some of his quotes have gone on to become so famous that they’re used as inspiration for many today.

One such quote is about being like water.

In an interview with Pierre Berton in 1971, Lee said, “Be Water, My Friend. Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

This may seem strange at first glance, but once you take a moment to think about it, you can see how this makes sense when thinking about thriving in an uncertain and chaotic world. It’s the key to thriving in any environment.

Bruce Lee’s philosophy on life is as inspiring and brilliant today as it was when he first articulated it. Be like water, he said, because that is how you must also live: fluid, adaptable, and unbound by other people’s limitations or their expectations of who you should be.

And while this idea has been expressed in different ways by other thinkers throughout history, what makes Lee’s take so unique is its application to a life of constant growth and self-improvement.

“The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be,” says Bruce Lee.

Water is one of nature’s most dynamic elements. It’s always moving, flowing, and adapting to many situations. Water can flow, freeze, react, and absorb. It can move from a liquid to a solid or vice versa.

Water is eternally changing. This is Why water is so adaptable: it responds to its surroundings. The same goes for you. You should be fluid and adaptive in your approach to everything you do — whether at work or home, in your relationship, career, finances, life experiences or personal growth.

Change, improve, or upgrade when your new situation demands it — especially when your success depends on it. “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one,” Bruce Lee said.

You can thrive in any situation by constantly adapting and changing your approach. You don’t need to lock yourself into one way of thinking; you can stay open-minded and receptive to new ideas while still maintaining your core values.

Being like water also means being unpredictable, which is more powerful than predictability when it comes to influencing people’s actions.

“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own,” Bruce Lee said.

The ability to pivot in response to changing circumstances is a critical attribute for success in any field. There will always be unexpected twists in life — it’s how we react that matters most.

Almost everything in life is a mind game! When we think about how we can change and adapt to be more like water, we are talking about flexibility — an open-minded approach to life. And flexibility starts in the mind.

Henry David Thoreau also reflected on water and how it connects us.

“The life in us is like the water in the river. It may rise this year higher than man has ever known it, and flood the parched uplands; even this may be the eventful year, which will drown out all our muskrats. It was not always dry land where we dwell,” he once said.

When you are flexible, you are adaptable — your mind interprets situations in ways that allow you to keep thriving despite what life throws at you. For a more adaptable life, reflect on the relationship of water with nature; it flows freely without struggle.

As the saying goes, “Water finds its own level.”

It’s the best way to improve in any area of life. You must constantly be moving forward if you want to improve at all. Never stay still; always be growing and improving yourself every day.

Life is a series of ups and downs. When things go smoothly, it’s easy to get comfortable and expect things to stay that way. We may even start viewing that period as the new normal.

But in reality, things are always shifting. The trick is being ready for when those shifts occur and adjusting accordingly. There is no perfect balance. To be more fluid requires you to be ready for anything to keep moving.

So, be like water and flow with your natural talents, abilities, and inclinations. Be like water and allow yourself to be molded by your experiences and circumstances positively. Be like water and adapt as necessary. Be like water and be receptive to new ideas, possibilities, and opportunities. Be like water and trust your instincts.

Be like water and acknowledge that you cannot control everything that happens to you but can control how you react to it. And lastly, be like water because it moves forward even when obstacles are in its way.