Before I review the book, I will get one thing off my chest about Arnold Schwarzenegger's biography- it is sexist and it is a bit hypocritical! Almost on all of the pages in the first part about his life in Austria and initial yrs in California, he mentions "girls" at least a 100 times and in one of the chapters, he goes on to call a charity group his wife is a part of- "Rich Broads' Foundation"! Hypocritical because this guy goes on to give you life advice and you feel like do you really want advice from someone who cheated on his wife of some 30 yrs? I decided to take Pint's advice one more time and separated the art from the artist! In order to enjoy the book, you have to ignore those misgivings.
Alright, now to the best part about the book- it's definitely inspiring. Arnold was born in Thal, a village in Austria. From the beginning, he thought of himself as special and meant to do something bigger, meant to move to America. His book tells you that it's not just about dreaming big but to have goals and smash them!
He started with body building, became a world champion- won different contests many times, including Mr Olympia for a record 7 times! He tells you that it's not just about body building but also about how you manipulate (for the lack of a better word!) your opponent into losing! This winning led him to his dreamland, America. He lands in California and guess what? One year of his stay has been taken care of by the fitness magazine Moghul that brings him there and employs him in his gym.
The second mountain that he conquered was getting into movies. You know you can't just think of the 90s without thinking of The Terminator- 2. Now, his goal was not just to become one of the biggest movie stars of all time but also earn $1 million. I have to admit that apart from having unwavering faith in his dreams, this guy is definitely smart. It's not just about grit and determination but also about learning everything there is to learn and conquer all the odds. (in his own words, several times in his life, he became a "sponge" and absorbed everything there was for him to know). He gave back to back hits and became one of the most bankable stars of the 80s and 90s.
Before getting into movies, Arnold made a lot of money through sheer intelligence and calculated investments in real estate. Think about it, this guy from a small village in Austria set his foot in a foreign land, learned the tricks of the trade, made some really clever investments and started living a life he dreamed of.
THE GOVERNATOR
Once he vanquished the cinema world, we all know, his next conquest was becoming the Governor of California. I haven't read about whether he was a good governor or not from people's perspective but it looks like he did all that he could under his power to be a good one. One of the biggest learnings for me here is that when governors or heads of a state visit a disaster-hit area, it's not for photo op! But so that the head can see what's happening first hand, help out or figure out the best ways to help! We are so used to our "leaders" visiting/ photoshop their pictures just for publicity, we forget the intention of such actions altogether! Arnold toured Napa and other flood affected areas, quickly got a pulse of the situation and acted immediately on setting up shelters (proper ones at that), providing immediate aid, etc. That's wonderful leadership!
At the end of the day, it hit me, how much confidence, persistence and hard work do you need to have to go from a village in Austria- become the biggest names in body-building, become one of the biggest movie stars and then become the governor of California! If I have to point a finger at what it is that is so different about him, it has to be his intelligence and perseverance to achieve his goals. An interesting point is he also firmly believed he was always special, ergo, he must have felt he deserved more than an average Joe in whatever he asked for. You know sometimes, its all about what you think manifesting into things. I truly believe that myself. Looking at famous people dream big and bring them into existence just makes that belief stronger
(A note on the heading to this part- The Governator was not a name that initially bode well with Arnold because of the negative connotations it entailed. But later, he was almost developing a comic book by the same name with Stan Lee. That went for a toss as his cheating allegations surfaced)
The book ends with Arnold's apology letter to Maria for having cheated on her and it looked like at the time of the publication of the book, he was still very much in love with her. I see them now, all these years later, coming together for their family for birthdays, festivals, etc. May be that's the right thing for them and their happiness.
I want to recommend this book to everyone. You learn how people with big dreams live, how they make those dreams a reality. With a lot of hard work and self belief.
With that, I say "Hasta La Vista, Baby"! (Sorry I had to do that 😁 )
1 comment:
Well written
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