“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
About this quote
Rigid things break when the wind blows too hard. Survival demands that you drop your preconceived ideas and match the shape of the room you just walked into. Do you fight the reality of a sudden layout change at work, or do you instantly adjust your strategy to fit the new rules? Rigidity is just fear wearing a mask of strength. You have to let go of your fixed identity so you can handle whatever mess lands on your desk today.
When to use it
- Look, our old database is gone and complaining won't bring it back. We have to adapt immediately to this new system and make it work for us.
- The pitch is completely waterlogged, so our usual passing game is dead. Stop forcing the old strategy and start playing physical soccer to match these muddy conditions.
- Our flight is cancelled and we are stuck here for nine hours. We can either ruin our day complaining, or we can buy a deck of cards and make this lobby our playground.
- Since the overseas metal shipment is blocked, we are switching production to local timber starting tomorrow morning. We can't afford to sit idle waiting for shipping lanes to clear.