Be Water, My Friend

In this email, we want to talk about the power of journaling, the problem with memory, and Bruce Lee. 

Whether you’re an athlete striving for excellence or a student mastering your craft, Bruce Lee’s life offers timeless lessons in the pursuit of mastery. That’s because Bruce Lee wasn’t just one of the most famous martial artists of all time—he was a master of self-improvement.

He understood that greatness wasn’t something you stumbled upon but something you created through discipline, reflection, and focus. 

Lee was scientific in his approach to self-improvement and ahead of his time in many ways. 

We want to share a few of the lessons we learned from studying his life, including something you perhaps didn’t know before. . .

1. Be Like Water

Water is formless, shapeless—it takes the shape of whatever container it’s in. It can flow gently or crash with immense force. Bruce Lee saw these qualities as the perfect metaphor for life. To him, being like water meant embracing adaptability and resilience, facing challenges without breaking, and flowing around obstacles rather than resisting them.

In martial arts, this philosophy shaped his techniques, encouraging him to avoid rigidity and embrace fluidity in movement and thought. Outside of combat, it served as a reminder to stay present, adjust to life’s circumstances, and always find a way forward. Flexibility, Lee believed, was the key to staying true to your essence while navigating the ever-changing world.

2. Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication

Bruce Lee was not a believer in excess. His philosophy of life and martial arts revolved around stripping away anything unnecessary. He said, “It’s not the daily increase but the daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.”

This idea was central to his martial art, Jeet Kune Do. Rather than adhering rigidly to traditional forms, Lee focused on what worked, discarding techniques that were overly complex or inefficient. He believed that simplicity and directness were more powerful than elaborate displays, both in combat and in life.

3. The Power of Journaling

When researching, we were surprised to learn that Bruce Lee wasn’t just a fighter or a philosopher—he was also a meticulous documenter and self-experimenter. His notebooks were filled with observations about his workouts, martial arts techniques, diet, and even his personal struggles.

Bruce Lee’s meticulous journaling reflects the same discipline he brought to his training and philosophy. Writing things down gave him clarity, allowed him to track progress, and served as a tool for reflection. Self-improvement isn’t just about action—it’s about understanding, and that’s what journaling helps you do.

For example:

• He tracked the effectiveness of his training routines, adjusting exercises and techniques to improve his speed and power.

• He wrote about his thoughts and emotions, exploring the philosophy behind his actions.

• He documented his diet, noting how different foods affected his energy and performance.

How Journaling Helps Solve the ‘Memory Problem’

What’s the problem of memory?

Simply put, our memories are unreliable. We often forget what truly brought us happiness or success in the past, and we misremember or overlook important details that could guide us toward better decisions in the future. Even worse, we’re prone to biases—like only recalling what aligns with our current mood or expectations—leaving us with an incomplete or distorted picture of our lives.

This can manifest in many ways, but these are three of the most common. . .

1. Affective Forecasting:

As a general rule, we’re not very good at predicting what will make us happy in the future. The things we think will make us happy sometimes don’t, and the things we don’t anticipate bringing us happiness sometimes do. Have you ever dreaded going to a social event only to come home feeling fulfilled and connected? That’s a perfect example of this. 

2. Mood-Congruent Memory Bias:

Our current emotions color our recollections of the past. If you’re feeling down, you’re less likely to remember moments of joy—even if they happened just yesterday. Similarly, when you’re happy, your memories tend to feel rosier. This bias makes it difficult to see our lives clearly as they truly are.

3. The Forgetting Curve:

Even when experiences bring us joy, their details—and their emotional impact—fade with time. This is a natural part of how memory works: without reinforcement, we quickly forget much of what we experience. For example, you might feel deeply happy during a family meal, but weeks later, the memory has faded, leaving you with little recollection of how meaningful it truly was. It’s not that the experience wasn’t valuable; it’s that your brain has let it slip away.

Here’s where journaling comes in. . .

Journaling helps us see through these biases. By writing down what made us happy—or didn’t—we create an objective record that our future selves can revisit. Over time, patterns might emerge, offering surprising insights into what truly brings you joy and fulfillment.

(It might even be possible one day to journal digitally and have an algorithm analyse what you write over time to generate these insights for you.)

This isn’t just theory—it’s something we’ve experienced firsthand. Let me share a story about Jacob’s journaling habit.

For one year of his life, my cousin and co-founder Jacob kept a gratitude journal every single day. (A habit he’s started again this year.) Every day, he wrote down three things he was grateful for, with one important rule: no repeats.

At first, it was simple: family, work, friends, travel. But as the months went on, he had to dig deeper. About eight months in, he noticed a leaf falling from a tree and was struck by its beauty. That’s what he wrote in his journal that day.

That moment marked a shift. Far from failing to forecast what would make him happy in the future, the journal helped him notice the small, beautiful things that made him happy in the present.

This is just one of the powers of journaling.

With the New Year on the horizon, why not start your own journaling practice? Whether it’s tracking gratitude, setting goals, or reflecting on your day, it’s a small habit that could lead to profound changes. 

Until next week,

Benji and Jacob

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