Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Six Rules of Success

6a00d8341c630a53ef0115708b8a2a970b-500wi[1] Thanks to a client that found this article in the LA Times. Any time you can model a successful person… do it! Here Dr. Schwarzenegger gives his simple framework for success.

Of course, one caveat: Yes, California is in terrible debt. This isn’t an article about how to successfully run a state, it’s a personal system for success, and obviously it works. His personal success is enviable and inspiring. An Austrian boy in a small rural village came to America and became the best in the world in body building, movies, then the highest rank politically he can legally achieve. You can use this system for your own achievement and add the achievement of others to your own goals.

Schwarzenegger’s Six Rules for Success:

  1. Trust yourself. Who do you want to be? (not what) Eliminate all distractions to listen to your heart and who YOU want to be. That means turn off the TV, the iPhone, the random chatter and sit still long enough for that voice to become loud. Listen to that voice no matter what others say.
  2. Break the rules. Not the law, but the “rules”. Those are the made up beliefs about how things are. Break all the limiting ideas about what is possible. Create a system to break the rules, like training every day, taking classes, learning what it would take to break the limits. Turn your perceived “weaknesses” into advantages.
  3. Don’t be afraid to fail. You can’t be paralyzed by fear of failure or you will never push yourself. You keep pushing because you believe in yourself and in your vision and you know that it is the right thing to do, and success will come. Some of his movies were “failures” but he kept on making more. In baseball, a 70% failure rate batting means you are worth MILLIONS a year!
  4. Don’t listen to the naysayers. How many times have you heard that you can’t do this and you can’t do that and it’s never been done before? His mother in law started Special Olympics 40 years ago. Everyone said they were handicapped, they can’t do anything, no one will watch it. Thank goodness she didn’t listen to them. They are now in 164 countries! Again, listen to your heart not the outside world.
  5. Work your butt off. To the question: "How many sit-ups do you do?"Mohammed Ali answered, "I don’t count my sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting. When I feel pain, that’s when I start counting, because that’s when it really counts."
  6. It’s about giving back. Whatever path that you take in your lives, you must always find time to give something back, something back to your community, give something back to your state or to your country.

I believe one of the most powerful things we can model is Arnold’s model of America. He was a young boy in a village that saw America as this magical place where anything was possible. Most native born American’s do NOT see that and complain and suffer. Notice today if any one around you, especially that person in the mirror is complaining about their job, lack of opportunity, etc. and just STOP them with this story. Arnold had HOPE and that allows love to flow. What we see is what we experience.

Here’s the full article. He gives wonderful examples and more detail as to how these six rules work.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/05/arnold-schwarzenegger-usc-graduation.html


Comments

2 responses to “Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Six Rules of Success”

  1. …and don’t cheat on your wife.

    My favorite quote, “No success can compensate for failure in the home.” David O. McKay

    Unfortunately, Arnold didn’t include that in his rules for success and now he wishes he did.

  2. Agreed David!

    Some successful people also have a dark side. Lying in the home may not have been the only place. You’re hinting at a law: nothing is compartmentalized.

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