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15 of 36 copies available
15 of 36 copies available
The seven rules to follow to realize your true purpose in life—distilled by Arnold Schwarzenegger from his own journey of ceaseless reinvention and extraordinary achievement, and available for absolutely anyone.
The world’s greatest bodybuilder. The world’s highest-paid movie star. The leader of the world’s sixth-largest economy. That these are the same person sounds like the setup to a joke, but this is no joke. This is Arnold Schwarzenegger. And this did not happen by accident.
Arnold’s stratospheric success happened as part of a process. As the result of clear vision, big thinking, hard work, direct communication, resilient problem-solving, open-minded curiosity, and a commitment to giving back. All of it guided by the one lesson Arnold’s father hammered into him above all: be useful. As Arnold conquered every realm he entered, he kept his father’s adage close to his heart.
Written with his uniquely earnest, blunt, powerful voice, Be Useful takes readers on an inspirational tour through Arnold’s tool kit for a meaningful life. He shows us how to put those tools to work, in service of whatever fulfilling future we can dream up for ourselves. He brings his insights to vivid life with compelling personal stories, life-changing successes and life-threatening failures alike—some of them famous; some told here for the first time ever.
Too many of us struggle to disconnect from our self-pity and connect to our purpose. At an early age, Arnold forged the mental tools to build the ladder out of the poverty and narrow-mindedness of his rural Austrian hometown, tools he used to add rung after rung from there. Now he shares that wisdom with all of us. As he puts it, no one is going to come rescue you—you only have yourself. The good news, it turns out, is that you are all you need.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
October 10, 2023 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593791615
- File size: 182223 KB
- Duration: 06:19:37
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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August 21, 2023
Schwarzenegger (Total Recall) shares in this pragmatic and plainspoken guide the life lessons that fueled his success as a bodybuilder, actor, and governor of California from 2003 to 2011. Growing up in the 1950s and ’60s in a remote Austrian village in a house without running water, Schwarzenegger was driven by crystal-clear visions of success (“I could see myself on the top step of the podium holding the winner’s trophy.... I could see the crowd going wild”) to train harder than his peers at the gym, and advises readers that they too must “have a clear picture of what you want your life to look like and a plan for how” to achieve it (“the people who feel most lost have neither.... They look in the mirror and they wonder, ‘How the hell did I get here?’ ”). Elsewhere, he emphasizes that nothing worthwhile is gained without effort, noting that he dutifully stuck to a regimen of dedicated “reps” in his bodybuilding training, as well as his gubernatorial speech prep. To that end, pain is useful because it “tells you whether you’ve begun to give enough of yourself in pursuit of your dreams.” While Schwarzenegger’s principles (and boundless enthusiasm for old-fashioned grit and hard work) aren’t revolutionary, readers will welcome his can-do approach and easily understood (if harder to implement) guidance. This gets the job done. -
Books from the rich and famous telling you how to live a successful life can be a bit on the nose – it’s easy to think everything you did led to your success when amorphous effects like luck and ability are so variable (no matter how hard you worked), and if it was as doable as they all claim, we’d all be doing it. In Be Useful, despite how cynical you might feel about it, Schwarzenegger wins you over with a lot of enthusiasm and what seems like a lot of common sense. His thesis is actually very sound: not doing anything by half measures, visualising your success and the way nothing worth having comes easy are all indeed ways to achieve your dreams (luck and talent notwithstanding). Even if you don’t take it as a self-help manual, the story of his rise to the top of several fields (body building, acting and politics) is actually pretty fascinating. You’ll have a new appreciation for the challenges he had to overcome to reach such heights. If you take the Austrian Oak at his word, you might come away with a newfound inspiration for whatever you want to achieve. Reviewed by Drew Turney ABOUT THE AUTHOR Arnold Schwarzenegger is a global icon: a titan of public life, sports, and entertainment. An immigrant with few resources, except those that really mattered: a vision, a fire in the belly, and an undeniable charisma, his story is one of classic inspiration and the power of the American dream. He is known all over the globe for his many accomplishments: world-champion bodybuilder, Hollywood action hero, successful businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, best-selling author, and California's 38th Governor. This world-famous athlete and actor was born in Thal, Austria in 1947, and by the age of 20 was dominating the sport of competitive bodybuilding, becoming the youngest person ever to win the Mr. Universe title. With his sights set on Hollywood, he emigrated to America in 1968, and went on to win five Mr. Universe titles and seven Mr. Olympia titles before retiring to dedicate himself to acting. His big break came in 1982 when the sword and sorcery epic Conan the Barbarian hit box office gold, and in 1984, Schwarzenegger blew up the screen as the title character in James Cameron's sci-fi thriller, The Terminator. To date his films have grossed over $3 billion worldwide. In 2003, Schwarzenegger became the 38th Governor of the State of California in a historic recall election, and as governor ushered in an era of innovative leadership and extraordinary public service.
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