Let Arnold Schwarzenegger Teach You 6 Timeless Lessons
Extracting extremely valuable teachings from The Terminator’s life
No matter how much Arnold Schwarzenegger accomplishes, people still identify him as the bodybuilding terminator.
When you start to go through his life though, you will quickly see that he is one of the most impressive and accomplished individuals we can look up to.
He’s made money bodybuilding, creating newsletters, in real estate, in Hollywood, as the Governor of the 5th biggest economy in the world, and in numerous other ways.
As with anyone else who has accomplished a lot, there are many lessons we can find and apply to our lives to aid our pursuit of success.
Whether you want to get jacked, go into politics, become famous, or rich, Arnold can teach you.
Dream big
Being a young boy growing up in Austria, Arnold dreamt of the day he could move to America. It was a simple dream, but one that would seem impossible to most in his position.
He had to do something great to be able to immigrate to the US.
Becoming an incredible bodybuilder was his way of being able to travel, build a name and eventually move to the USA.
Dreaming of becoming the world’s greatest bodybuilder is pretty unrealistic for most. Not for Arnold though. Not only did he dream it, but he made that dream come true.
Afterwards, he kept dreaming big, and the size of the dream didn’t matter.
He dreamt of becoming the governor of California, and a famous actor. He succeeded.
Don’t be afraid of dreaming big.
“The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger
You can be good at multiple things
It’s pretty unlikely to become the world’s greatest bodybuilder, one of the highest-paid actors ever, and the governor of California.
Arnold did it though, and that serves to teach us a very, very important lesson.
You can be good at more than one thing!
We are often told to pick a career and stick to it. Follow what you are good at, and just stick to that because you will never be good at anything else. Stay in your lane!
It’s such an awful teaching. It likely stems from the old ways of going to school, specializing and then doing the same thing for the rest of your life out of the fear of restarting.
Arnold (like many others) is the perfect example of how we can not only become good at multiple things, but we can excel at them.
Elon Musk built PayPal (an internet company), Tesla (an electric car company), and even SpaceX (rocket science).
Richard Branson went from running a record label to starting an airline.
It’s not too late to learn new skills or switch your career.
“I love it when people say that something can’t be done. That’s when I really get motivated; I like to prove them wrong.”― Arnold Schwarzenegger
Be grateful for what you have
Arnold is someone who preaches that you should practice gratitude.
He for one is extremely grateful to be living in a country that has freedom. That freedom gave him the chance to become famous, rich and powerful.
Throughout your journey, take breaks, even if just a few breaths, to look around you and reflect on how far you’ve come.
You should also realize how lucky you are to be alive.
Just being born is a 1 in 400 trillion chance. You already beat the odds.
“Stop whining.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger
Strive to be the best
There are very few things you can control. The main element in your control is yourself.
You can control your output. So, how much work are you going to put in?
To achieve great things you should always do your best at everything.
Even if you don’t become the best, you are going to be much better than if you set your aim lower.
On average humans achieve 80% of their goal. Set the goal high, and achieve more.
“You can scream at me, call me for a shoot at midnight, keep me waiting for hours – as long as what ends up on the screen is perfect.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger
Networking is beyond valuable
You don’t become the governor of the 5th biggest economy in the world without networking well. It’s worth mentioning that he also did that as a foreigner.
You also don’t become one of the highest-paid actors without being a good networking.
Knowing the right people is extremely valuable.
When Arnold became more famous, he became very close to the Kennedys. Of course, they are a very influential family.
He even married John F Kennedy’s niece, Maria Shriver. I’m not saying he did that to network, but it just goes to show how close he was to their family, and how accepted he was.
Arnold became the governor of California running as a Republican. That is unbelievable given the fact that California is a very “blue state”.
It likely would have not been possible if he was not close with the Kennedys, or any of the other thousands of people who took the time to meet.
That is the power of networking.
“I always believed in shooting for the top, and to become an American is like becoming a member of the winning team.”― Arnold Schwarzenegger
Don’t take no for an answer
Constantly throughout his life, Arnold was told no. Time and time again he was told that what he was trying to accomplish was not possible.
Critics are often wrong.
They told him he would never start in a movie because of his accent. He did.
They told him as a foreigner he would never get elected as the governor of California. He did.
Arnold doesn’t take no for an answer. In fact, if they tell him no, it motivates him more. He wants to prove them wrong and uses that no as motivation.
Life will constantly push against you. Whether it is events out of your control, or people telling you no, you will face resistance.
Believe in yourself enough to push back. If you do, greatness will come.
“The resistance that you fight physically in the gym and the resistance that you fight in life can only build a strong character.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger
Closing remarks
Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of the most impressive individuals the earth has ever seen.
He’s beat the odds time and time again. Today we can look at him for inspiration.
If you like working out, well… he’s jacked.
If you like politics, he was the governor of the 5th biggest economy in the world.
If you want to be famous, he’s one of the biggest actors of all time.
If you’re trying to achieve impossible goals, he has done so multiple times.
And if you want to be rich, he’s worth over $400 million.
Arnold is inspirational no matter who you are.
Thanks for reading
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