Everything Is Useful

I am the biggest Bruce Lee fan ever but his famous quote about absorbing what is useful and rejecting what is useless has led too many people astray. 

If you are going to follow someone’s advice, at least give the advice context by understanding a little bit about the person who said it. Bruce Lee was an expert in king fu when he died at only 32 years old. He had a mountain of experience and knowledge in his repertoire, all supported by a complete system in Wing Chun. Once you have a system behind you (black belt) it is normal to seek more knowledge outside of your system to help improve yourself. Of course you may find some knowledge more useful than other knowledge when it comes to enhancing your existing system. Keep the the useful stuff and reject the useless stuff. No problem. 

The problem comes when people begin their martial arts training by following this philosophy. Everything is useless when you start. You are a beginner, you suck at everything. If you’re going to reject what is useless you are going to reject almost everything. Nothing is useful until you make it useful through practice. 

Become an expert then decide what is useful to you and what is not. Don’t let your arrogance get in the way of your potential. 

“Take no thought of who is right or wrong or who is better than. Be not for or against.” - Bruce Lee (1940 - 1973)