This Arnold Schwarzenegger motivation post is one of the most valuable posts on the entire blog period. Take the following lessons & advice to heart, spend time thinking about what it really means and how you can relate to it.
It is not my internet marketing skills that have led to my success…
It is the mindset behind it.
This post personally resonates with my own journey over the years…
Live and breathe what you are about to learn.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of the most successful and ambitious men of all time. He has achieved more in his life than most can even begin to imagine…
Even when everyone is telling him he is wrong and the odds are stacked against him.
A few weeks ago one of my clients introduced me to a video where Arnold explains how he has been so successful. You can watch the video at the end of the post.
A reader left a comment on the post and I invited them to expand it into a full post.
What Will I Learn?
Ryan Biddulph is a digital nomad who lives, travels and blogs on the road with his blog BloggingFromParadise.com.
He wrote an awesome comment on the blog in response to the video.
I invited him to expand on that and turn it into a full blown guest post.
Arnold is the man. I’m not saying that because I was a former bodybuilder who can recite every line from the movie “Pumping Iron.”
He’s the man because he reached 3 absolutely, positively, ridiculously ambitious goals that few folks on earth ever reach….by themselves.
This guy scored the triple play and every person on this planet needs Arnold Schwarzenegger motivation levels in their life.
Consider this: what type of time, energy, focus, drive and smart work do you need to put into being Mr. Olympia once, let alone, 6 times? He also won Mr. Universe 5 times.
Mind-boggling.
Arnold became the highest grossing and most well known movie star of his day. If someone achieved that goal alone in their life you better believe they’d be deemed a stunning success.
He also became a Republican governor of a state traditionally dominated by Democrats.
Some astute political pundits would call this achievement the greatest of Arnold’s career because overcoming the “party line” mentality in most US states is often an impossible feat for candidates.
Did I mention that Arnold Schwarzenegger became virtually a millionaire before he even started bodybuilding in the States? He and a few friends ran wildly successful mail order and construction businesses when he was an unknown.
How did one man reach the pinnacle of bodybuilding, film, and just about the pinnacle of American politics in one lifetime?
Arnold mentioned in the bodybuilding movie Pumping Iron that:
“I have thrown up in the gym many times. It’s all worth it.”
He worked out so intensely that he would sometimes vomit after doing a set. He saw the goal of being Mr. Olympia and didn’t care about any momentary discomfort he experienced to reach that point.
Arnold is an idol of mine because I learned early on in my bodybuilding career that if I wanted to grow I had to become super uncomfortable at times.
I transferred that same mindset to my blogging career. I write 4000 to 6000 words daily. No excuses, no complaints, no “putting it off for another day.”
I have-
No matter how uncomfortable I feel, I write. Growing is so darn freeing but it’s a bit unpleasant at times.
Stretch. Reach a bit beyond. Practice writing. Tweak your copy. Submit guest posts to authority blogs. Push yourself.
You’ll find that when you dive into uncomfortable areas you’ll free yourself from constricting limiting beliefs.
Arnold didn’t try to win the Mr. O, to become the biggest star in Hollywood and to become a Republican governor in California all at once. He devoted all of his creative energies to 1 chief purpose at a time.
Doing so helped him reach the top. After each major achievement he chose to move on to a new definite major purpose. He may have held a vision of himself achieving each goal but he never tried to do more than 1 thing extraordinarily well.
Where your attention and energy goes, grows.
Look at Matt, the wildly successful owner of this blog.
He is an SEO and affiliate marketing wizard. Both niches work so well together, so he devotes almost all of his creative energies to mastering SEO and affiliate marketing.
Evidence of his intent is his stunning success.
Stop trying to master:
Devote your creative energies to doing 1 thing really well, like Arnold, and like Matt, and you’ll become successful so much more quickly.
Arnold often shares how he was the product of a strict, conservative upbringing in Austria.
He was regularly punished for wanting to stand out from the crowd. He would see bodybuilders and movie stars in magazines from the USA and dreamed of being free, of expressing himself, and of being super successful.
He walked for miles to visit the nearest gym in Austria and sometimes broke into the gym to get his pump on. No matter how much his family tried to reign him in he held onto his dream and faced resistance to make his dream a reality.
I had 4 cents 5 years ago, in my wallet. I was $50,000 in debt at that time.
Today I’m a pro blogging, island hopping, internet lifestyle junkie with a million dollar view from a jungle cliff as I’m writing these words. The place where we’re living is about 50 meters above the bay and the Pacific Ocean in Savusavu, Fiji.
I had to dream big to make this life a reality and to get through all types of resistance.
I’ve read about countless internet marketers who experienced all types of hardship but they kept their dreams alive and they became stunning successes.
When you face resistance, hold your dreams tightly.
If you want to live the internet lifestyle, or if you want to quit your 9-5 to work from home to be with your family, hold this dream in mind to propel yourself through rough times.
After Arnold moved to the States he made a small fortune running a few prospering businesses. Having access to steady cash flow allowed him to spend hours each day working out, so he could chase his dream of being Mr. Olympia.
He had to juggle tasks and become ruthless with his time. As you can see, his strategy has worked quite well.
I read once that during the filming of the 3rd Terminator movie, Ahhhnold would wake at 4 AM to workout. He hit the set after the early morning workout session and would put in 12 to 15 hours filming.
At night, he’d put in a second workout session so he could look buff despite being in his 50’s.
He’s always made the sacrifices necessary to be the best.
Naturally, he became the best.
You’d be wise to hold onto your day job to properly fund your online dreams. Pad your savings while devoting 2-3 hours each weekday to grow your online venture.
Spend 6 to 8 or even 10 hours on your off days to grow a sustainable, prospering online business.
If you’re a full-time online entrepreneur, build your day around what you value –
You’ll soon learn that sacrifice is releasing something of a lower nature to make room for something of a higher nature.
Interested in entrepreneurship? Check out these entrepreneurial statistics.
When Arnold decided he wanted to become the biggest movie star in the world studio folks laughed at him. His accent was too strong – in their minds – so terrible, that his voice was dubbed over in the film “Hercules in New York.”
Arnold said:
“It was very difficult for me in the beginning. I was told by agents and casting people that my body was too weird, that I had a funny accent, and that my name was too long. You name it, and they told me that I had to change it. Basically, everywhere I turned I was told that I had no chance.”
He even played a deaf-mute hitman in his second movie because studio folks didn’t want him to speak.
Arnold kept at it until he became one of the highest-grossing movie stars of all time.
Don’t give up when times are tough. Simply humble yourself. If you haven’t made a cent online, I’ve been there. Virtually all of us have. The folks who become the pros simply knew why they wanted to succeed and held that reason through all of the resistance they faced.
Pay your dues. Craft brilliantly insightful, helpful comments on authority blogs. Create stunningly valuable, in-depth resource type posts as Matt does right here on this blog.
If you create value persistently you’ll reap the rewards now or later. Sow. Reap. Pay your dues and in time you’ll succeed wildly.
“I’ll be back.”
Who doesn’t know that movie line? It’s iconic. We can all recite it in Arnold’s voice.
Ahh, the accent. His biggest weakness made him an icon.
Although he took English lessons to become fluent he explicitly did not try to remove his Austrian accent because he knew it made stand out.
Brilliant, right?
As he stayed true to himself, and became more and more popular, the very accent that forced many short-sighted casting agents to make this guy play a deaf mute made him the biggest and wealthiest movie star on the planet during his heyday.
The same accent made him an icon, an icon that parlayed his fame and political savvy into being a Republican governor in the heavily Democratic, huge state of California.
Be true to you. In time, your “weirdness” or “weakness” will become your greatest strength because what you are trying to hide will make you remarkable, admirable and if you keep at this game online, it may just make you world-renowned.
Your Turn
What success lessons have you learned from Arnold Schwarzenegger?
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I really like your blog, because I m really big fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger nice and keep share
Haha, not heard that one before. Thanks Mack
Very efficiently written article. It will be beneficial to anyone who utilizes it, including yours truly :). Keep doing what you are doing – looking forward to more posts.
No problem Claude!
Awesome Post Thanks For Sharing?
No worrys Aqib
I’ve always known Arnold to be a successful fellow, but I’ve never heard his story from such a unique perspective. Lovely article.
Glad you enjoyed it Agbona!
As Arnold says we do everting in reps and sets. Sets are number of articles or blogs and reps are how long each post is. I agree with Mat that content building is as painful as body building but in both cases of you do it on point you will get good results.
Hahah that’s a nice way to look at it!
Aaaand this is why I have been following your blog for years! Great inspiration when I need it. Thanks to both of you, it was a great post.
No problem Laurie, glad to be of service 🙂
Very inspiring, I couldn’t resist myself reading the whole thing once I started. And the 22 minutes video addition, thank you for that.
Hahaha sorry about that 😛
I love this post. I am a newbbie and im yet to earn anything despite all ive put into it. Your post has brightned my day and given me hope to hold on. Thank you.
Don’t hold on, take control.
Great post! There are also some great inspirational videos from the Austrian Oak on Youtube and I’m lapping them all up. 🙂
Haha I watched the original Terminator last night and had this post in mind
“Become a master of 1 niche, not a mediocre jack of many niches.” This is really one to ponder in. Like, when you think of it, it is certainly better to just be best in one than to be just average among many platforms. But isn’t it still good to have a wide range when it comes to online marketing?
Very true indeed 🙂
Agreed on this Matt.Dabbling here and there is the road to online failure. Lesson learned here 😉
I feel as an online entrepreneur you do have to dabble in many different areas while specializing in your niche. For example, you may want to blog & do youtube videos, but to promote them you may want to know a little SEO. Thoughts on balance and focus?
Stay focused on one thing, master it – then move on 🙂
Thanks for sharing this Ryan and Matthew, I am particularly taken with the idea that we don’t need to be the expert at everything. My father always used a saying – “Jack of all trades, but a master of none!”
True that 🙂