Arnold Schwarzenegger: Life’s 6 Rules

I always enjoy reading biographical motivational advice, so here’s to hoping you do too. I can’t remember what internet worm-hole brought me to this video, but after I watched it, something “clicked”. If you want to take a moment to watch it and come back to this post, that’s fine. I’ll wait. If you want to save it for later, it’s a clip from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2009 commencement speech to USC.

“People always ask me, what’s the secret to success?”

His response is the following “six rules of life”.

I’m too young to remember “the Govenator” in bodybuilding prime, but judging from the above picture, he was a tough competitor. Arnold won Mr. Universe at only 20 years old, establishing himself as one of the most recognizable figures in the sport.

1 — Trust Yourself

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve doubted myself, only to have my worst suspicions confirmed. As cliché as, “trust yourself” sounds, it’s true. First you need to push yourself in practice to discover your limits. Then, when you believe in yourself and your abilities, the outcome will be much more favorable.

2 — Break The Rules

“They’re more like guidelines” is the quote from Pirates of the Caribbean. Society gives us, “the rules” and it’s our decision how to play. Arnold isn’t condoning breaking the law, just “the rules”. Steve Jobs was a notorious rebel. In his youth, he played practical jokes with “Woz” and flew a pirate flag over the Macintosh section of Apple’s campus. In his own famous commencement speech (considered among the greatest) to Stanford, Jobs elaborates on his personal rule breaking philosophy. If you play everything by the rules, you’re not playing your own game.

3 — Don’t Be Afraid To Fail

If you agree with rule #1, the fear of failure shouldn’t bother you. But for many of us, fear thwarts our efforts before we even try. Michael Jordan credits much of his success to his willingness to “take the shot”. He’s frequently quoted for saying, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” If you’re afraid to fail, it won’t work.

4 — Ignore The Naysayers

Rappers call them “haters”. Arnold says “naysayers”, they’re interchangeable. In Pursuit of Happiness Will Smith’s character says, “People can’t do something themselves, they want to tell you, you can’t do it. You got a dream? You’ve got to protect it.” Even better is possessing the ability to turn the negative energy into motivation. Every insult, doubt, proclamation of the impossible from others is fuel for your engine.

5 — Work Your Butt Off

Arnold’s most important rule. You mean achieving success.. is hard? *Gulp* You’ve gotta love the work ethic. It’s like that line, “the harder I work, the luckier I get”. Sometimes our idols make it look too easy, but most people never see what goes on behind the scenes. We don’t see the workouts, rehearsals, rejections, we only ever see results. Arnold says, “when you feel it burning, it’s growing”. Especially in weightlifting, you must be willing to literally, “work your butt off”.

6 — Give Something Back

I’m a huge fan of the last one. It’s not just about success for yourself. In fact, being able to help others is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling feelings, often leading to personal success. It’s why doing community service feels great, why the greatest teachers love what they do, and why success means very little without others to share it with.

Summary

There you have it, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 6 rules for life. Hope you found this as inspiring or useful as I did.

If you liked this, you can get even more of my writing for FREE by signing up here:http://brianhertzog.com/signup