It’s 1969. Bruce Lee is in the gym. He has 135 lbs on a bar and is knocking out a few Good Mornings before diving into the rest of his weight training. He hears a loud crackling pop and drops the weight in pain.

At the time he doesn’t realize it, but the sound indicates severe damage to his 4th sacral nerve that leaves him bedridden for the next six months.

For the emerging martial arts star, the injury is debilitating, with doctors saying it is doubtful he will ever be able to kick (let alone walk “unaided”) ever again.

Bruce Lee gets a specialty bed made to help buffer the pain, smokes copious amounts of marijuana to numb it and reads from his extensive 2,000 book library.

It’s during this time he writes his…

“Definite Chief Aim.”

For the unfamiliar, a Definite Chief Aim is a very specific, clearly defined purpose to one’s life.

It’s a concept made popular by Napolean Hill, the author behind what has become something of a bible for the wealthy, Think and Grow Rich.

Here was Bruce Lee’s Definite Chief Aim…

*Bruce Lee is typing now*

“I, Bruce Lee, will be the first highest paid Oriental superstar in the United States. In return I will give the most exciting performances and render the best of quality in the capacity of an actor. Starting 1970 I will achieve world fame and from then onward till the end of 1980 I will have in my possession $10,000,000. I will live the way I please and achieve inner harmony and happiness.”

Unfortunately, he had just three years.

Bruce Lee would die just three years after writing his Definite Chief Aim at the young age of thirty-two, just one month short of the release of “Enter The Dragon” –– the film that would go on to make him a global icon.

At the time of his passing, he was the highest-paid “Oriental” superstar in the United States with an estimated net worth of $10 million.

By Cole Schafer.