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HOW I SUCCEEDED – Arnold Schwarzenegger – MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH


think big because then you’re gonna get
big then you’re gonna go and achieve big
things that is the most important thing
you know we don’t achieve big things by
accident so shoot for the top shoot for
the sky for the you know for the stars
the other thing is is that you get to
work your butt off if you think that
you’re gonna go and accomplish something
really special and be the best in
anything in the world if you think you
can do it without working you make a big
mistake because no matter what I did if
it was a bodybuilding or an acting or if
it is in the political arena it always
took a lot a lot of work and you got to
put out and you got the you know
something make a lot of sacrifices
notice if you’re not willing to work
hard forget about it so there’s another
rule this last 2 or 3 or 4 repetitions
that’s what makes actually the muscle
then grow and that divides them one from
a champion and one from not being a
champion if you can’t go through this
pain period you make it to be a champion
if you can’t go through forget it and
that’s for most people like isn’t this
having the guts – guts to go in and just
say I go through and I don’t care what
happens you know it aches and if I fall
down I have no fear of fainting in a gym
because I know it’s it could happen I
threw up many times father was working
out but it doesn’t matter because it’s
all worth it everyone has a problem with
time but today is 24 hours and we sleep
6 now I know there’s some out there that
say I need eight but I say to sleep a
little faster because the bottom line is
we have six hours of sleep 24 hours are
available so if 18 hours now available
to your work your family your hobbies
and also to learn something new or to do
something new which could easily be that
you want to learn a new language or that
you want to read and as a new year’s
resolution I have to read a book every
week or where you say I’m gonna go and
reshape my party
so you’re gonna go and take this hour
out of your schedule and say I’m gonna
train an hour every day so this is for
most people a huge challenge but it is
totally doable I can tell them because
the kind of things that I did when I
came to this country I mean I went to
school I was working in construction I
was working out my five hours a day I
was taking acting classes from 8 o’clock
at night to 12 midnight I was doing all
of those things I wanted to make sure
that out of the 24 hours of the day that
I don’t waste one single hour those
hours were too precious and so they just
want to tell people don’t give me this
thing I have a difficult time of it the
time and I don’t have time for this now
that you have time you make the time now
of course people ask me all the time
they say to me what is the secret to
success these are my rules and I think
that they can apply to anyone but that
is for you to decide because not
everyone is the same there’s some people
that just like to kick back and coast
through life and I just want to be very
intense and want to be number one and
want to be successful let’s like me I
always wanted to be very intense I
always wanted to be number one I took it
very seriously in my career so this was
the same when I started with
bodybuilding I didn’t want to just be a
bodybuilding champion I wanted to be the
best body build of all times the same
was in the movies I didn’t want to just
be a movie star I wanted to be a great
movie star that’s the highest paid movie
star has a buff the title building and
so this intensity always paid off for me
this commitment always paid off for me
so here are some of the rules the first
rule is trust yourself and what I mean
but that is so many young people are
getting so much advice from their
parents and from the teachers from
everyone but what is most important is
that you have to dig deep down dig deep
down and ask yourselves who do you want
to be not what but who and I’m talking
about not with your parents and teachers
wanted to be but you I’m talking about
figuring out for yourselves what makes
you happy no matter how crazy it may
sound to the people I was lucky growing
up because I did not have the
television or I didn’t have telephones I
didn’t have the computers in the iPods
and of course Twitter was then something
that birds did outside the window but
didn’t have all those destructions in
orders have spent a lot of time for
myself so could figure out and listen
the what is inside my heart and inside
my head and I recognized very quickly
that inside my head and heart were a
burning desire to live my small village
in Austria not that there was something
wrong with us
Austria is a beautiful country but I
wanted to leave that little place they
want to be part of something big the
United States of America a powerful
nation the base that dreams can come
true I knew when I come over here I can
realize my dreams and I decided that the
best way for me to come to America was
to become a bodybuilding champion
because they knew that was my ticket the
instant that I saw magazine cover of my
idol reg Park he was mr. universe he was
starring in Hercules movies he looked
strong and powerful he was so confident
so when I found out he got that way I
became obsessed and I went home and I
said to my family I want to be a
bodybuilding champion now you can
imagine how that went over in my home in
Austria
my parents they couldn’t believe it it
would have been just happy if I would
have become a police officer like my
father or married someone like Heidi who
where the bunch of them had a bunch of
kids and ran around like the fun trap
family in Sound of Music that’s what my
family had in mind for me but something
else burned inside me something burned
inside me I wanted to be different I was
determined to be unique I was driven to
think big in the dream big everyone else
thought that I was crazy my friend said
if you want to be a champion in the
sport why don’t he go and become a
bicycle champion or skiing champion or
soccer champion those are the Austrian
sports but I didn’t care
I wanted to be a bodybuilding champion
and use that to come to America use that
to go into the movies and make millions
of dollars so of course for extra
motivation I read books on strongmen and
the bodybuilding and looked at magazines
and one of the things that it was a
decorated my bedroom window of a bedroom
wall right next to my bed it was this
big wall that had decorated all with
pictures hung up pictures of strongmen
and bodybuilders and wrestlers and
boxers and so on this rule number one I
wanted to become a champion I wanted I
was on a mission so rule number one is
of course trust yourself no matter how
and what anyone else thinks don’t be
afraid to fail because if you’re afraid
to fail then you’re always holding
yourself back because you’re afraid that
if you go all out you may fail well in
weightlifting we learned it very quickly
it’s the only way you could break a
record is if you’re willing to fail
that’s when you put on more weight you
try it sometimes you maybe don’t you
would not be able to lift it we just
happened to me many times but eventually
when you train hard enough you will lift
it so don’t be afraid to fail you I mean
how far can you fall that just shows you
again so much for it can’t be done this
is why I try to tell you anything and
everything can be done if you can
visualize it and if you believe in
yourself it was the same thing again
when I ran for governor you can imagine
when I went on at the night show and I
announced that I’m gonna run for
governor of the great state of
California people came to me afterwards
and says you’re crazy
you don’t announce something like this
under tonight’s show you have an
official press conference at the State
Capitol
plus you don’t start with governorship
you go start first with mayor or with
state senator and I said I don’t want to
be senator I don’t want to be mayor I
want to be governor don’t you understand
that well the rest is history I won in
2003 and they won also in 2006 let me
tell you you’re going to find the
naysayers in every turn that you make
don’t listen
just visualize you cor know exactly
where you want to
go trust yourself get out there and
Brooke like hell and break some of the
rules and never ever be afraid of
failure and of course rule number two is
break the rules we have so many rules in
life about everything I said break the
rules not the law but break the rules it
is impossible to be a maverick or true
original if you’re too well behaved and
don’t want to break the rules you have
to think outside the box that’s what I
believe after all what is the point of
being on this earth if all you want to
do is be like for everyone in avoid
trouble the only way that ever got any
place was the breaking some of the rules
after all I remembered that after was
finished with my bodybuilding career I
wanted to get into acting and I want to
be a star in films you can imagine what
the agent said when I went to meet all
those agents everyone has the same line
that it can’t be done the rules are
different here just look at your body
have this huge monster his body and
openly developed that doesn’t fit into
the movies you don’t understand
this was 20 years ago the Hercules
movies now there’s the little guys that
ain’t Dustin Hoffman Woody Allen Chuck
Nicholson before he gained weight of
course that is wherever those are the
guys that win and the agent also
complained about Max and he says no one
ever became a star with an accent like
that especially not with the German
accent and yes I can imagine with your
name Arnold Schwarzenegger or whatever
the name is on a billboard yeah that’s
gonna draw a lot of tickets and sell a
lot of tickets you’re right so this is
the kind of negative attitude they had
but I didn’t listen and listen to those
rules even though they were very nice
and they said look we can get you some
big parts be kingmaker get you to be a
you know playing a wrestler or a bouncer
oh maybe with the German accent we can
get you to be a Nazi officer in Hogan’s
Heroes or something like that but you
know I didn’t listen to all this this
was their rules not my rules I was
convinced that could do it that if I
worked as hard as I didn’t bodybuilding
five hours a day only
broke through I broke through and the
souther getting the first parts in TB
streets of San Francisco Lucille Ball
hired me and made pumping out stay
hungry and then I got the big break in
Conan the Barbarian and there the
director said if he wouldn’t have
Schwarzenegger we would have to build
one now think about that
and then when added Terminator I’ll be
back became most of one of the most
famous lines in a movie history all
because of my crazy accent now think
about it the things that the agent said
will be totally a detriment and will be
impossible for me to get a job all of a
sudden became an asset for me all of the
things my accent my body and everything
so it just shows do you never listen
that you can’t do something pay
attention to the rules and I made it and
I think it’s the most important thing
that we have a very clear vision of
where we go a goal well where do we go
because you can have the best ship in
the world you can have the best cruise
liner but if the captain does not know
where to go that ship would drift around
the world and out there that sea and
we’ll never end up anywhere and this is
exactly the way it is in real life if
you don’t have a core if you don’t have
a vision you just drift around you’re
not gonna be happy this is why it is so
important to have that vision now I
created that vision in Austria because I
grew up after the Second World War
Austria right along with Germany lost
the Second World War
thank God and the problem was that
everyone was so depressed because they
lost the war that there was alcoholism
everywhere there was of course
depression there was a terrible economic
situation there was famine there was
starvation and all of those things and
also it was kind of a little place and
narrow I felt kind of I wanted to get
out of there I wanted to escape and I
couldn’t see myself really do work there
in the stadia to work in the factory of
the work on the farm although even to
follow my father’s footsteps and to
become a police officer I couldn’t see
that either some I think that’s what my
parents wanted me to do they wanted me
to become a police officer and to marry
a girl by the name of Heidi and to have
a bunch of children and to run around
like the fun trap family in The Sound of
Music
but that’s not what I saw this was the
vision of my parents but not mine and
luckily one day in school I watched a
documentary about America and I found
myself I knew exactly that is where I
wanted to end up I wanted to be in
America the rule number three don’t be
afraid to fail anything I’ve ever
attempted I was always willing to fail
in the movie business I remember that
you pick scripts many times you think
this is a winning script but then of
course you find out later on when you do
the movie that it didn’t work and the
movie goes in the toilet now we have
seen my movies I’m in Red Sonja
Hercules in New York last action heroes
those movies went in the toilet but
that’s okay because they’re the same
time there I made movies like Terminator
and Conan and True Lies and predator and
twins that went through the roof so you
can’t always win but don’t be afraid of
making decisions you can’t be paralyzed
by fear failure or you will never push
yourself you keep pushing because you
believe in yourself and in your vision
and you know that it’s the right thing
to do and success will come so don’t be
afraid to fail
that I was very fortunate that I had
great heroes I’d great heroes that I
could look up to and I mentioned two of
them Muhammad Ali and Sargent Shriver my
father-in-law but there’s other great
heroes like gorbachev reagan mandela
great leaders like Mother Teresa
Chancellor Kohl and Churchill and the
list goes on and on I mean those people
had such an impact in the world
single-handedly they’ve changed the
world we all can create change whether
it is now neighborhood or in our local
schools or in our country they can’t be
big but it can also be as little as just
going to a school kid that is problems
reading and teaching that kids are the
read or how to do math we don’t have to
just work on me we should also work on
we not just me but also we remember that
to lead a truly full life you must give
back you must leave the world a better
place than you found it because the
bottom line is it is up to us I mean
those rules that have given you
important rules but giving back is one
of the most important rules don’t listen
to the naysayers I mean how many times
have you heard that you can’t do this
and you can’t do that and it has never
been done before just imagine if Bill
Gates had quit when people say it can’t
be done I heard this all the time
isomeric I love it when someone says
that never no one has ever done this
before because they mean I do it that
means that I’m the first one that has
done it so pay no attention to the
people who say he can’t be done I
remember my mother-in-law eunice Kennedy
Shriver when she started Special
Olympics in 1968 people say that it
would not work the experts the doctors
that specialized in mental disabilities
and mental retardation said it can’t be
done you can’t bring people out of the
institution you can’t make them
participate in sports and jumping and
swimming and in running they will hurt
themselves that will hurt each other
they would drown
the pool but let me tell you something
now 40 years later Special Olympics is
one of the greatest organizations in 164
countries dedicated to people with
mental disabilities and with
intellectual challenge and intellectual
challenge and she did not take no for an
answer and the same as many look at
Barack Obama I mean imagine if he would
have listened if he would have listened
to the naysayers he would have never run
for president people say that couldn’t
be done that he couldn’t get elected
that he couldn’t beat Hillary Clinton
that he would never win the general
election but he followed his own heart
he didn’t listen to the you can’t and
you changed the course of American
history so a window where you see that
if I would have listened to the
naysayers I would still be in the
Austrian Alps yodeling I would never
have come to America I would have never
met my wonderful wife Maria Shriver I
would have never had the wonderful four
kids that would have never done
terminated and there wouldn’t be
standing in front of you today as
governor of the greatest state of the
greatest country in the world so I never
listened that you can’t I always
listened to myself and said yes you can
who’s your power of potential and make
this nation in this world a better place
it worked for this immigrant that came
over here to this country with $20 in
the pocket and I know and I guarantee
[Music]
work your butt off you never want to
fail because he didn’t work hard enough
I never wanted to lose a competition or
lose an election because they didn’t
work hard enough I always believed
leaving no stone unturned
Muhammad Ali one of my great heroes had
a great line in the seventies when he
was asked how many sit-ups do you do he
said I don’t count my sit-ups I only
start counting when it starts hurting
and I feel pain that’s when I start
counting because that’s when it really
counts that’s what makes you a champion
that’s the way it isn’t everything
no pain no gain so many of those lessons
that I apply in life I’ve learned from
sports let me tell you and especially
that one and let me tell you it is
important to have fun in life of course
but when you’re out there partying
horsing around someone out there at the
same time is working hard someone is
getting smarter and someone is winning
just remember that now if you want the
coast through life don’t pay any
attention to any of those rules but if
you want the win there’s absolutely no
way around hard hard work none of my
rules by the way of success will work
unless you do I’ve always figured out
that there’s 24 hours a day you sleep
six hours and if 18 hours left now I
know there’s some of you out there now
and says well wait a minute I sleep
eight hours or nine hours well then just
sleep faster I would recommend
all of those liabilities that they
talked about started turning into assets
when it had Conan the Barbarian the
director came to me and he said if we
wouldn’t have you people don’t have to
build one and on Terminator the director
said I couldn’t imagine to have anyone
pre-terminated it wouldn’t have an
accent and they wouldn’t have your body
I cannot imagine the line I’ll be back
with a normal American accent it works
so perfectly than you have this German
accent so all of those things that they
say the liabilities became an asset the
moment as moment went on they grew and
grew and I went from one movie to the
next so they’re making more and more
money and then on the end ended up being
the highest-paid actor with thirty
million dollars and Terminator 3 just
remember you can’t climb the ladder of
so I had always this desire that felt
like that the only way I ever would get
the America because in those days it was
in common that you buy yourself a ticket
to no one could afford that so yeah I
had to kind of accomplish something big
that takes me to America and then when I
read about this guy reg Park who won mr.
universe three times and then became a
star in Hercules movies and then was in
Italy filming and then in Hollywood
filming I felt that it could be the
ticket I should become mr. universe as
you become kind of a second rich Park of
course no one really bought into that my
parents thought I was totally insane I
think that my parents really thought
that there was something terribly wrong
of being dead driven you know because I
would come home at lunchtime and instead
of having lunch over 200 sit-ups and
they were at night I would go to the
stadium and there would be lifting
weights I would come home at 10 o’clock
at night and there would be continue
lifting weights so it was like one of
this insanity in a military I will
continue lifting weights no matter how
the training was and how tough the basic
training was I would always then lift
weights afterwards and as a tank driver
would have on the side of the tank in
the toolbox I would have my weights my
barbells and dumbbells and my exercise
bench and everything there in order to
be at any given time if we stopped
driving the tank and maneuvers at 2:00
in the morning
I would be able to pull out my weights
and again lift for two hours my weights
just I was really a fanatic about the
whole thing but that’s the only way you
really get where the way I succeeded
because I became at the age of 20 at the
youngest mr. universe in London in the
history of bodybuilding because the
youngest before then was a rich Park the
guy was talking about with the age of 24
but I became the youngest me 20 but it
was because I was like so serious about
the whole thing and it worked with the
age of 21 after one by second mr.
Universe title I got an invitation from
Joe Weider
who was the publisher of all the muscle
magazines in America and also the person
that had the biggest wee hours of weight
training equipment and had food
supplement companies and orders and
a problem with America and Cydia was I
mean six years after my dream started I
was in America that takes me the rule
number six which is a very important or
it’s about giving back
whatever path did 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 and my
father-in-law Sargent Shriver who is a
great American truly great American who
started the Peace Corps the Job Corps
legal aid to the poor he said that Yale
University to the students said the
commencement speech tear down that mural
tear down that mirror that makes you
always look at yourself and you will be
able to look beyond that mural and you
will see the millions of people didn’t
need your help and let me tell you
something reaching out and helping
people will bring you more satisfaction
than anything else you have ever done
let me tell you as you prepare to go off
into the world remember the six rules
trust yourself
break some rules don’t be afraid to fail
ignore the naysayers work like hell and give something back
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