In the first part of this series, “Word of Wisdom,” I quotes Tom Petty songs and tied them in with the work of a freelancer. Now, I’m going to subject you to the same by quoting Bruce Lee.

My colleagues and I have started a writing movement called Musclemalism, and the philosophies of Bruce Lee resonate with the core concepts of Musclemalism. It’s starting to spread throughout the fiction world, and others are picking up the movement as well. We encourage people to do so because we believe that Musclemalism is a way of writing, a way of working, a way of fighting, and a way of life.

What is Musclemalism? For writing, it’s neither minimalism or maximalism. It is Jeet Kune Do of the written word. It takes the shortest path to the desired outcome. It cuts the fat away from your writing and leaves muscle. It defies the rigid standards of the old guard. One thing it is not, though, is a style.

Bruce Lee did the same things for martial arts. He saw where all of the forms and styles of martial arts were successful and where they failed, so he developed ideas and guidelines to fight better. Jeet Kune Do isn’t supposed to be a martial art in the traditional sense. It’s supposed to be a collection of ideas that help you adjust to your specific situation and react in a logical manner which utilizes your strengths.

The following is a taste of Musclemalism and how it can change your life:

Cutting Away the Fat

“Jeet Kune Do is simply the direct expression of one’s feelings with the minimum of movements and energy.” — Bruce Lee

Absolute minimalism fails in that it can not express every given moment. Some texts need more words, some programs need more functions, and some pictures need more of a flair. While the minimalist approach appears to be the most direct route, it often sacrifices substance to stay within the style. Think of it as a weak punch against an opponent: you used the minimum amount of energy to get your fist to their face, but you had no effect when you got there.

From a standpoint of developing applications, a minimalist program will have no “frills.” It will do the one job which is required. That is good for a certain set of problems, but if you offer no expandability in your software, then it is less valuable to your customer.

“Some martial arts are very popular, real crowd pleasers, because they look good, have smooth techniques. But beware. They are like wine that has been watered.” — Bruce Lee

That is a warning against maximalism. When you engage in maximalism, you are trying too hard. You will miss your target for saying everything except for what you need to say, doing everything except for what you should be doing. An artist who has drawn a logo should not add a thousand unnecessary symbols surrounding the company’s symbol. It just distracts from the focus of the piece and makes it unattractive. The artist would have added all of those symbols just to find out that it is no longer feasible to print. A programmer who adds too many unneeded features to their application will find the interface is cluttered and difficult to use. A writer will bury their meaning in flamboyance.

The Musclemalist Way

“Be formless, shapeless like water. Now you put that water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can either flow, or it can crash! Be like water, my friend.” — Bruce Lee

The idea is to analyze each situation and work for that solution with no style in mind. Do not follow any convention just because it is a convention. Do not be afraid to break the “rules” and do something no one has seen before. When you do something a certain way every time, you fill fail when the situation does not call for that type of action.

When writing, clear your mind of all of the previous styles you’ve done. Forget your “voice” and just start writing in the best way for that situation. Once you have developed a distinct voice in which people can see something you have done and say, “Oh! I know who did that!” you are in a rut. You have become predictable, and you will be pigeon-holed as “the person who does that thing like this.” A better thing for them to say is, “Oh! That is done very well! I recognize the name attached to it, and he/she always does good work.”

Applying Musclemalism to Your Life

“Again let me remind you Jeet Kune Do is just a name used, a boat to get one across, and once across it is to be discarded and not to be carried on ones back.” — Bruce Lee

That is a lesson of Musclemalism as well. It is a vehicle of thought to give way to new ideas. It’s not a style–it’s a way to develop yourself.

It’s all about cutting away the fat, taking that which works from others, and throwing away the things which don’t work. If you’ve driven the same way to the grocery store for the past five years, you may find a better way to go. A new road may have opened up, or traffic might have increased on that street.

You can apply the concepts of Musclemalism to everything. Find the most logical, most effective way to do the thing you want to do. Every time you sit down to do freelance work, see it as a fresh opportunity. Writing for the same blog, doing database programming, or creating logos for a specific business sector can become tedious after a while. Shake things up and do things differently, and you will find that you will be more motivated to work every day. It’s not, “Oh no! Another boring blog post is due!” It becomes, “Ah ha! Another opportunity to stretch myself a different way!”

Look at everything with fresh, new eyes. It’s difficult, but it will change your life.

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