Most of the people I have admired in my life whether those figures are popularly known in society or simply folks I have known in my personal circles, I do not see anyone who found success in an endeavor without struggle and sacrifice.
For me personally, I find the tougher the goal is to reach, the more I want to attain it. There are no circumstances that will make me quit anything that I know in my heart to be true.
One of my youthful idols was the very popular martial artist, Bruce Lee. As a teenager, I had his poster on my wall. I had seen his hit movie, Enter the Dragon. After that, I purchased magazines with him on the cover and eventually found a biography of his life.
The movie was one thing, but his actual life was absolutely incredible – in a good way.
Lee’s mother told him to leave Hong Kong before he ended up dead on the street. Since he was actually born in the United States, he could come here and claim his citizenship.
The Deck was Stacked Against Him
Once he arrived he found discrimination in Hollywood. There had not been a serious Chinese character in a film, for the most part. Most characters were shufflers, much like the black characters until this time. The Chinese characters in the Charlie Chan series were probably the most respectable back then.
Bruce Lee had an opportunity to play the lead role in a proposed television series called Kung Fu. Well, you would think that casting him would have been spot on, but the decision-making executives thought that America was not ready for a Chinese man to play a Chinese man. They cast a white guy who could not have passed for Chinese in 15 million years.
He Never Quit
Nothing was going right for Lee. He headed back to Hong Kong to star in what we would call “B” movies. He was a hit there in Hong Kong and to some extent a hit in the United States. That got the attention of producers here, so they traveled to Hong Kong to court Bruce Lee.
Well, if you know anything about Lee’s history, you know that this was his big break. In Enter the Dragon, Lee became an American icon.
Life for Lee was inherently unfair in so many respects, but he NEVER quit. He made adjustments and he tweaked a few plans, but he did not slither away. Before Dragon, he had done at least one television show as a super hero side kick.
He also opened a martial arts studio to teach his own style. He broke every rule and became distrusted in his own community. Asian martial arts were supposed to be for Asians only and Lee dared to teach black and white actors and others who wanted to know what he knew.
He had a Passion for Life
The guy was intense about his training regimen and he was also tough on his students. In his movies, he was too fast for the cinematic technology of the day. Directors asked him to slow down so he could be captured on film.
I am no Bruce Lee, by any stretch of the imagination, but I learned something very valuable from him that I carry with me in life, which includes business and relationships. I sometimes slow down, but I don’t quit.
The more seasoned I become, I am convinced that to achieve anything worthwhile – reaching goals or achieving greatness – quitting is not part of the formula.
No Room for Quitting
Once I know something is right, I’m in it for the long haul. In business, I make adjustments, I change objectives. I try new and innovative plans. U.S. Presidents are not the only leaders concerned about legacy. Each of us as professionals have legacies to consider as well.
On my last day of work, whether through retirement or death, I want to say that I not only had a desire to succeed, but that I completed the mission I had envisioned.
This article first appeared on LinkedIn
Ricardo Whitaker is the publisher of the Guilford Gazette