Do you lack determination and direction? Perhaps you feel that your life isn't going the way that you hoped it would?
Whenever I've been faced with those inevitable life-crushing dilemmas, I've always gone back to the man who epitomizes determination, charm, humor, and success.
A man who demonstrates time and time again that nothing can stop him.
That successful man is Arnold Schwarzenegger.
As an inspiration to us all, there are plenty of things we can learn from him, but these are the 10 most important lessons to make you a successful man:
Sound good? Let's get started.
Arnold's story is inspiring and driven, with obstacles smashed at every hurdle.
A man forced into the military by an indifferent father who wanted nothing more than to crush Arnold's dream of becoming a bodybuilder.
GET DATES NOW
Don't get stuck not knowing what to say...get your free guide and start attracting relationship quality women now.
A man who escaped from his military base, took a train in the dead of night to compete in a bodybuilding competition. And won.
Only to sneak back into the same military camp. Like he'd never been gone.
All while his colleagues slept off an exhausting day's toil.
As a role model for the modern man, Arnold demonstrates the respectful, single-minded entrepreneurialism of the most successful business people on the planet. He’s a successful man because he’s driven and determined.
If you want to know how to be a successful man, you couldn't find a better role model than Arnold Schwarzenegger.
What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those sets and reps; when I didn’t think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I Iearned is that we are always stronger than we know.
Do you look back and see times when you were told that you weren't good enough and that you should just give up?
Do you ever look back and realize that whenever you didn't succeed it was because you accepted what that? Even though you knew that your could do it?
The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it - as long as you really believe 100 percent.
Arnold's father told him that he should give up - in fact, sending him into the military was his father’s way of forcing him to be like everyone else - “normal”, unremarkable, obedient.
But that just made him more determined. He entered a bodybuilding competition in Stuttgart - that competition was a 26-hour journey from his cell in solitary.
But crossing borders to actualize his dream wasn’t an obstacle that was going to beat him.
He turned up at the competition and had to borrow a pair of trunks. He was new to competitions and driven by ambition - but for all of his enthusiasm, he was unprepared on a practical level.
He knew that if he could just get there; if he could stand in front of the judges and perform, he would excel.
And, of course - against the odds - he won.
He knew that he could win, and this is what is special about Arnold Schwarzenegger's character.
He could visualized himself with that trophy. And nobody telling him otherwise could break his resolve.
And when he won, he realized that he wasn’t dreaming.
He had visualized his dream and made it a reality.
Successful men aren’t afraid:
Schwarzenegger's story is full of obstacles. But his unique, devil-may-care tinge of confident humor disarms his adversaries in an awesome show of commitment.
He points a metaphorical gun into the face of challenge and strides over obstacles like the super-heroes he so often portrays on the silver screen.
His private life is driven by a focused mindset. It has taken him from humble beginnings to becoming one of the most successful, inspiring men for other men to follow.
Becoming a successful man requires tenacity:
I’ve always admired Arnold. He’s played bad guys, but he’s never taken himself too seriously.
With a Herculean physique, he stormed into our lives, demonstrating that manliness was part iron-man, part comedian, with a massive dollop of resolve, single-mindedness, and staying power.
He has achieved many things in his life, but he has never been one to sit on his laurels.
Arnold first won the Mr. Universe contest in 1967. At the age of 20, he was the youngest man to claim the title. He won three more times.
He moved to America in 1968, winning his first Mr. Olympia competition in 1970. He won the title seven times.
Arnold, like so many icons of the 1980s, has mastered the art of reinvention.
When it seemed that he was likely to become typecast as the robotic, unkillable machine, he reinvents himself as the Kindergarten Cop - never afraid to show the pussycat hiding beneath the lion's exterior.
His single-mindedness is grounded in more than just mere grit and determination, however.
In his early years, Arnold's upper body developed well from his training, but his legs were very thin. He cut his pants up the thigh and walked around like that - exposing the legs that he was so ashamed of. Everyone laughed at him, calling him "the man with the chicken legs." This ridicule drove him to focus on building his legs.
This ability to display his vulnerability is his true strength. In a world that often considers vulnerability as a weakness, we can all learn something from Arnold's humorous take on the strong man.
Every successful man has a clarity of vision in themselves:
As an inspirational speaker, Arnold delivers down-to-earth common sense, but always with a cheeky nod to his playful humor.
He knows how to craft an inspirational phrase: funneling his ambition, determination, and self-belief in a way that any NLP guru would recognize.
What he says, he does.
He's not just an Action Hero - he's the hero of action. The ultimate "doer."
And that's why he's the perfect role model for the modern man who feels emasculated by a world that increasingly negates male strength as a virtue.
His battles made him stronger.
He climbed the ladder. He didn't sit at the bottom looking up.
Every successful man focuses on action:
From a young age, Arnold defied the norms of his Austrian heritage; fighting against the expectations of a traditional, super-strict father who tried everything to deter and thwart Arnold's ambition.
Arnold's goal was to become the most muscular man on the planet.
But 1950s Austria wasn't quite ready for such an ambition.
Ridiculed by his friends, and an embarrassment to his father, Arnold's objective got him sent into the military for some lessons in reform.
But the world makes way for the determined person, and you can’t reform the stubborn.
Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.
Stifled by the expectations of a formal society, Arnold was determined to pursue a more adventurous life - wanting more than the simple life that he’d been born into.
His goal forced him to push his body to the max. He wanted nothing less than to be a world champion.
The punishment for escaping the military camp was up to a month in solitary confinement. And, sure enough, Arnold found himself in solitary on more than one occasion.
Locked in a cell and forced to spend time tortured by his own ambition, he found himself consumed with self-doubt.
Why wasn't everyone else around him preoccupied with a passionate drive? He believed his destiny was to win Mr. Universe; to make movies; to make millions of dollars?
What was wrong with him? He thought he knew how to be a successful man, but doubt crept in.
And then he found his role model: Reg Park became Mr. Universe. Why couldn't he?
And this is what is so inspiring about Arnold’s resolve:
He had a role model. He knew what success looked like. He could visualize his goal.
Successful men can see their success:
Schwarzenegger saw his future self with total clarity. His future self was Mr. Universe. Away from the shackles that were trying to thwart his ambition.
From an early age - in his head - he was a movie star. And a millionaire.
Creating that level of clarity of vision is the first step to finding your own drive in becoming a better man.
Visualize what success looks like for you, and you have a roadmap to victory.
This young boy who grew up surrounded by people who were trying to dampen his ambition is now the Governor of California.
Arnold is true testament to the idea that you CAN do it.
I want to be the best built man in the world. Then I want to go to America and be in movies. I want to be an actor.
His use of language is positive and precise.
I knew I was going to be a bodybuilder. It wasn’t simply that either. I would be the best bodybuilder in the world - the greatest; the best-built man.
Arnold speaks in terms of what can be done. And when he talks of things that can’t be done, it’s always with a solution - a resolve.
Self-doubt never stopped Arnold. Self-doubt is natural. And it’s only crippling if you can’t see beyond the now.
Some examples of the pay-off for Arnold’s positive attitude:
Life is for embracing - not shutting down and giving up. If you want to know how to be a more successful man, look no further.
Never give up. Even when the world laughs in your face.
The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it - as long as you really believe 100 percent.
Arnold had the total strength of his convictions because he could see himself in the winning position. He knew what it looked like.
He backed his belief and vision with tireless work. He wasn't one of those guys who turn up at an X Factor audition under the delusion that they're a winner, without having the talent to back it up.
He worked hard - pushing himself physically and mentally to the absolute limit to get what he wanted. He didn't just turn up, expecting the world to fall in love with him with minimal effort.
So:
Arnold has physical strength - we all know that. He has driven his body to the limits in the pursuit of perfection. But that type of physical strength actually comes from mental strength.
We're not all built like Herculean Adonises. But we don't have to accept that we can't be better than what we are now.
The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This area of pain divides the champion from someone else who is not a champion. That’s what most people lack: having the guts to go on and just say they’ll go through the pain; no matter what happens.
We don’t need the Herculean physique to embody the drive of the strong man.
Learned helplessness is the giving-up reaction; the quitting response that follows from the belief that whatever you do doesn't matter.
We have to be tryers. Tryers who never give up; who keep going when others have fallen by the wayside.
The destination of strength needs to be earned.
I knew I was a winner back in the late sixties. I knew I was destined for great things. People will say that kind of thinking is totally immodest. I agree. Modesty is not a word that applies to me in any way. I hope it never will.
There would be no physical strength without mental resolve. And no-one has ever been a success without the unstoppable determination to succeed.
From a young age, we’re told to be humble, polite, and charming. And Arnold is all of these things. But ambition isn’t for the humble. It’s for the driven.
So:
Charm is an enigma, while strength is tangible. Charm is openness, approachability, leadership, respect, and discipline; wrapped in an attractive package that people flock to.
On accepting an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Southern California in 2017, Arnold displayed a self-deprecating manner that poked fun at his acting ability.
His humbleness is part of his strength, and this is the fine line between total self-belief and arrogance.
Arrogance is a flaw because it’s the refusal to look at oneself with humor and to take other people’s opinions and feelings into account.
Humbleness, balanced with self-belief is attractive. It makes us feel like we could approach that person and shake their hand. To share our insecurities with them, just as they share their own insecurities as a strength.
Being a strong man isn’t about being impenetrable. It’s about having the charm, good humor, and strength in your own position with the ability to help others.
Arnold stated, during his Doctorate Acceptance speech that the route to success is:
Laughing at himself is Arnold’s true strength and the source of his eternal charm.
My friend, James Cameron, and I made three films together: True Lies, The Terminator, and Terminator 2. Of course, that was during his early, low-budget, art-house period.
So:
Some interesting facts about Arnold
We can all learn a lot from Arnold Schwarzenegger. He has battled to achieve his objectives by keeping his self-belief in the face of adversity.
His resolve comes from an ability to see the end-game - to recognize what success looks like and to keep trying and never stop until he has achieved his objective.
Arnold’s strength comes from his mental strength - his ability to manifest a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we tell ourselves that we’re not good enough, we’ll never achieve.
On the other hand, if we tell ourselves that we're good enough, and we work hard enough, we have a realistic chance of success. The key, here, is the work that we're prepared to put in.
Arnold has never given up but has known when to walk away. After Conan The Destroyer (the sequel to Conan The Barbarian) was a box-office flop, he resolved to avoid making unnecessary sequels.
Of course, the Terminator series of movies are the exception here. But he used those sequels to re-invent himself, along with the character he had originally played; bringing a fresh angle on the classic first movie.
This leads us to another learning point - never rest on your laurels. Success is transient: allow one ambition to follow another. It keeps us strong, young, charming, and relevant.
Don’t just sit there. Do something positive. Visualise your success story and keep that in your head at all times. And never let an obstacle stop you.
So when you’re thinking about how to be a successful man, remember these lessons from Arnold:
Use the comments box to share how Arnold's story has inspired you to follow a dream. Or perhaps following his story has helped to clarify your goal. How about sharing that goal?
Whenever your life feels directionless, give yourself a goal, Be prepared to work until you drop. And make a difference.
Be more Arnold.
Author: Mike is a personal development staff writer for C&W.
Hi, I'm Eddy Baller, author & founder of Conquer & Win.
I've been a dating and relationship coach since 2011, and since then I have helped men across the globe to build their social confidence and get the dates and relationships they deserve. Get your FREE dating consultation now by clicking the button below.
Session expired
Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page.
Arnold was on my gym's wall in college. A picture of him showing his arms in a wing span pose and a blank expression on his face. Like it or not a bodybuilder has EARNED their body. What have you done with yours? Every day is a gift to do something great whatever you think GREAT is, don't waste it.
Awesome, Doug. Arnold is a big inspiration for me too.