Multi-Year Patience

I had to wait over a year to write yesterday’s post. As soon as I read that line in Letters of the Dragon, I knew I had to comment on it. Did Bruce Lee really make “the fuckingest action motion picture that has ever been made?” But in order to comment, first, I had to learn.

Thankfully, I’ve been watching movies my whole life, so I have a pretty big stock to draw on. Kung fu movies. Crime movies. Spy movies. Action movies. Superhero movies. But I was clueless about Bruce’s movies. So, after finishing the book, I started watching: His early, small movie appearances. His TV shows. And then his blockbusters, ending with the supposed pinnacle: Enter the Dragon. I also watched Jaws and Live and Let Die, and I’ve seen Star Wars: Episode IV.

Of course, there’s always more to learn. What about Dirty Harry? What about Drunken Master? Still, I felt the most important prerequisite to assessing Bruce’s claim was to see all of Bruce’s work. So that’s the journey I went on, and then I shared my ideas once I was ready.

I don’t know if I’m better at this than the average person or not. But in a world where AI spits out instant answers and full-fledged results for almost anything, and most people can barely sit down and focus on one task for a few hours at a time, multi-year patience is a superpower. Are you willing to wait? To do not just some but all the work that’s needed?

Payoffs are never guaranteed, but there’s always one reward waiting at the end of the high road: the pride of not having taken any shortcuts. Take the long way around.