I’ve been immersing myself in the goal-setting and motivation literature lately, and came across this story about Arnold Schwarzenegger that made an impression.
Rewind to 1976. Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Tucson, doing publicity for the movie Stay Hungry (check out the clip – I guarantee it will bring a smile to your face). During a lunch interview, a sports columnist who has been given the task of writing a piece on him asks what his plans are now that he is retired from bodybuilding.
Schwarzenegger’s response?
And with a voice as calm as if he were telling me about some mundane travel plans, he said, “I’m going to be the number-one box-office star in all of Hollywood.”
Source: 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself, by Steve Chandler
Keep in mind that this is not the Arnold Schwarzenegger we know now. At the time, this statement was highly improbable, if not laughable. Few, if any, would have predicted the kind of film success he came to have. Fewer still would have predicted his marrying into the Kennedy family and becoming governor of California.
What do you suppose was Schwarzenegger’s strategy for taking over the movie world?
“It’s the same process I used in bodybuilding,” he explained. “What you do is create a vision of who you want to be, and then live into that picture as if it were already true.”
I have always been fascinated by stories about successful people and how they think (and by successful people, I don’t mean people with money or fame per se, but people who have accomplished what they set out to accomplish). Interestingly, I find that there are three themes that tend to recur time and again.
1. Successful people dream big
2. Successful people take action
3. Successful people keep at it
The Schwarzenegger formula
1. “Create a vision of who you want to be”
Do you remember what it was like to think like a child? How your imagination was completely unbound, and you didn’t yet understand what limits were? I, for instance, remember spending a good bit of time trying to fly when I became convinced (after seeing The Greatest American Hero) that I could fly if I just managed to figure out the right footwork sequence for taking off. So, I started spending some time every day out in the driveway practicing my takeoff. I’d experiment with the number of steps I took, which foot I’d launch off of, and so on. I kept at it and kept at it, and then one day, finally, I…just decided that I was tired of skinned knees and bruises and moved onto something else. Ok, not a great example perhaps, but do you remember how optimistic and un-skeptical we all were as children?
Take out a clean sheet of paper, write down a description of yourself 10 years in the future. Who are you? What does your life look like? What are you doing? Where? Who is around you? Allow yourself to imagine a future in which failure is impossible, and there are no limits.
I say this with no disrespect intended towards Schwarzenegger, but are any of the heartfelt hopes and dreams that came to your mind any more far-fetched than his accomplishments?
2. “Live into that picture”
This means taking action. For Schwarzenegger, this meant working his tail off, as in (for instance) calf-raises with 1000 lbs. at 5am (source). Are calf-raises fun? Nope. Does 1000 lbs. make them funner? Most assuredly not. But it does feel good to know that you have just taken a few steps towards your dream while most of the world is still sound asleep.
Let’s say that you’ve articulated a 5 or 10-year vision. Given this scenario, work backwards.
What will have had to have happened for this to be true in 10 years?
What will you have had to learn?
What skills will you have had to develop?
What auditions will you have had to take?
Who will you have had to meet and develop relationships with?
Are any of these stepping stones any more improbable than what Schwarzenegger has achieved?
3. “As if it were already true”
This speaks to persistence. If our vision means the world to us, and if we know what has to happen for us to get there, and if we believe that sooner or later we will get there, why would we quit just because the path gets a little rocky?
Ok, I admit that this is a lot of if’s, but guess what? We have control over each of them.
We can all create a vision that means the world to us if we just suspend disbelief and allow ourselves to dream and use our imagination as kids do. We are all capable of figuring out what has to happen for us to get there (because if nothing else, we can find someone who has already gotten there, and ask how they did it). And cultivating a sense of positive expectancy and strong inner conviction in ourselves that perseverance requires is a matter of habit.
If a young boy from a small village in Austria can become a 7-time Mr. Olympia, a huge box office star, and governor of the most populous state in the country, might your dreams be more realistic than you think?
The one-sentence summary
“It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.” ~Author Unknown
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