The Bodybullder

Arnold Schwarzenegger is not someone I ever would have thought to admire. As much as I love saying, “Get to da choppa!” or “I’ll be back,” those are just universally understood movie quotes - I’d never thought about how him driving a tank through a wall could result in these globally understood catchphrases until I read Total Recall. 

Turns out, there’s a lot more to Arnold than tanks, catchphrases, and muscles. As I read his story, three themes kept showing up—and oddly enough, they felt like reminders I didn’t know I needed: 

• Be authentically yourself.

• Own your missteps.

• Even a bull in a china shop can be successful when committed to their goals. 

I didn’t know much about Arnold going into this book. From the outside looking in, I saw a bodybuilder who somehow pivoted his career into movies and politics. 

I never thought to study him but have always been fascinated by biographies of successful people and, seeing he had an interesting background, I thought it would be worth hearing his story. 

Arnold is Arnold. Unapologetically. While I don’t agree with his actions, it seems his authenticity was his charm. 

Based on his portrayal of himself, he said what came to his mind and lived his life as he wanted to live it. 

He refused to let others cast him in certain lights and was intentional in defying that. 

When he wanted to be a bodybuilder and to compete, he temporarily fled the military to compete in a competition, knowing the risk of him getting in trouble, won and returned - facing the consequences. 

He opted out of the Austrian military early to pursue this dream and moved across the globe to the United States to live out his dream of bodybuilding there. 

After establishing himself as one of the all time greats in bodybuilding along with a love for the performance that went with it, he was intentional in finding hero roles that he could be casted as in movies. 

While he worked to improve his accent so he didn’t get typecast as villains, he eventually was able to find success despite it, playing roles in action movies and comedies. 

It seems that his subtle humor and strongly held beliefs made him amicable to a lot of people - helping him to build a strong network of supporters. 

His authenticity also resulted in him putting his foot in his mouth… A lot. 

It wasn’t just his foot, though. He managed to drive a tank through a wall, aiding him in his early exit request from the Austrian military. 

But Arnold was aware of these faults. I don’t have a machine to travel back in time to save John Connor - I mean - to observe Arnold’s behaviors, but he shined light on many mishaps caused by himself and owned his errors numerous times throughout the book. 

It also seems that he acted to better himself from those mistakes. 

It is one thing to own your mistakes, another to minimize your repetition of them. 

His blunders got in the way of roles in movies, impacted his public perception, and caused tension in his marriage but he was able to find success regardless. 

A lot of that comes down to his ownership and willingness to improve. While he at times was a bull in a china shop, he would inform others of his errors or own them when he saw his wrong doing. 

That, paired with his herculean work ethic, enabled him to find success. 

You don’t need to be perfect to find success. Just honest enough to own your flaws—and relentless enough to outwork them.