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Famously known as the Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of the old school guys. Now in his early 70s, and despite the fact that he received emergency heart surgery in 2018, Arnold is still going strong and he’s looking good, too. If you’ve ever wondered how Arnold got to where he is today, you are one of the many.
Because of his success in both bodybuilding and acting, Arnold even came up with at six of the rules he follows to achieve success. Keep reading for Arnold’s six steps to success plus four more!
Trust Yourself
In order to be truly successful, you have to know what you want. Being able to distinguish what you want versus what people want for you is very important when trying to find success in your life. Letting other people live through you isn’t going to get you where you want to be. You may be successful on paper, but what good is money or power if you aren’t happy enough to enjoy it? Don’t be afraid to ask for help along the way, but also remember the difference between help and manipulation.
Stand Out
Arnold Schwarzenegger is a big believe in being unique, even having a famous quote: "The worst thing I can be is the same as everybody else. I hate that." He has a point; the population of Earth is now at 7.5 billion and is growing still. With so many people around you, it can be hard to stand out and be different. In order to make it far in the world, though, you need to be unique; you can't blend in or else nobody is going to notice you! That is the key to success.
Break Some Rules
In 1962, Douglas MacArthur wrote: “Rules are mostly meant to be broken and are too often for the lazy to hide behind.” The more modern version “rules are meant to be broken” may have some truth to it. That’s not something they teach in school! In all seriousness, MacArthur and Schwarzenegger believed that following the rules and doing as everyone else does was a form of laziness. In order to stand out and show your true potential, you have to be different and put plenty of effort into everything you do.
Procrastination Gets You Nowhere
When there are so many things on your to-do list and you feel like you are drowning, it is just human nature to put things off. Roughly 26% of the human population will admit to being chronic procrastinators. That is over a quarter of the world; not to mention that about 85% of students are among them. Of course, it goes without saying that procrastination won't stop you from being successful, however it will not make it any easier on you.
Learn As Much As You Can
Surely, everyone has heard the saying "knowledge is power". Using that power to your advantage--when trying to achieve your goals--is one of the smartest things you can do. It was once said that if you were to read 200 of the most influential books in the world, you would know all you need to in order to find success in the world. Books like Gulliver's Travels, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and Crime and Punishment are all books that have great meanings and underlying lessons to learn.
Don’t Be Afraid of Failure
Life is fickle; one minute you are going strong and the next, you’re getting knocked down. A well-known Schwarzenegger quote—“Pain makes me grow. Growing is what I want.”—expresses just how he feels about failure. Even though failure can be painful and frustrating, you have to use those experiences to your advantage.
Use them to propel you forward in life; don’t dwell on them. Even someone as successful as Arnold Schwarzenegger can tell you that failure is going to follow you, no matter where you go in life. You just can’t give up because of failure.
Ignore the Naysayers
We see it in memes, and we hear it in songs: “Ignore the haters.” The haters—those who do not support your ambitions or those who tell you that you “won’t make it”—are not people that you need to have in your life. Arnold truly believes that we are always strong, not matter what anyone says: "What we face may look insurmountable, but what I learned is that we are always stronger than we know". Not matter what anyone every tells you, it is important to remember that you can achieve anything if you try hard enough.
Find Mentors and Role Models
Having somebody who once went through what you are going through can help in ways that may not be very clear right now. However, when you have someone to relate to--someone to ask questions and someone who can tell you stories--motivation will follow. If you have a mentor, there will most likely be an extra push from them; an urge to work towards what you want and stop at nothing to get it. Sometime we need that extra push to get us over the hump.
Work Like Hell
It can be easy to get lost in taking the easy way out, but Arnold Schwarzenegger reminds us that when it comes to achieving your goals, you get back what you put it—meaning without hard work, you aren’t going to get where you wanted to. For example, Arnold was 15 when he first started lifting weights. After training hard for five years, he finally won Mr. Universe, a bodybuilding award. At 20 years old, Arnold’s hard work finally pulled through. "You can't climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets."
Give Something Back
"Positive thinking can be contagious." This quote from the man of the hour really accentuates what Arnold means by this rule. You have to make sure that if you are going to ask for help, you need to be able to give back or at least help other people. It doesn't take much; just spread positivity, motivation, and urge other people to be as successful as they can be. Everybody has goals and ambitions, sometimes they just lack the motivation they need to achieve those goals.