everywhere i turned they said no it won't happen it's not going to happen and forget about it
i tell you when i met those agents and managers their reaction was
oh arnold that is so funny are you kidding me you're gigantic you're like a monster it doesn't
happen forget about that and then your name what is it watson schnitzel or something like that
seriously wherever i go people ask me all the time what is the secret to success
the long version is that i actually always had five rules and everything that i did always used
those five rules and those five rules helped me to become successful in various different areas and
i think i believe that those rules can be applied to almost anyone and everyone so my first rule is
find your vision and follow it you see i think it's the most important thing that we have a
very clear vision of where we go a goal where do we go because you can have the best ship in
the world but if the captain does not know where to go that ship will drift around the world and
will never end up anywhere and this is exactly the way it is in real life the simple truth is
if you don't have a vision if you don't have a goal if you don't see your future laid out in
front of you you're just floating around without a purpose this is why so many people around
the world are unhappy with their jobs i mean in america 74 of the people hate their job and would
like to change jobs i always smiled when i worked no matter how hard i worked i always had a great
time no matter what i did it didn't matter if it was in bodybuilding or if it was in the movies or
if it was as governor people ask me in the gym all the time why are you smiling all the time why are
you so happy you have to lift 50 tons of weights and i tell them always they say i smile because i
know exactly that every rep that i do to get one step closer to turning that vision of mine into
reality and becoming that mr universe always discover your vision and the rest will follow
my second rule is never ever think small if you're going to accomplish anything you have to think big
you have to go and shoot for the stars the biggest challenge most people have is because
they think small and the reason why people think small and why they choose small little goals is
because they're afraid to fail they know that if you shoot for a big goal then the chances of
failing are very high i say to myself hey i'm not worried about failing because that's part of life
you're not gonna be go and win everything and how far can you fall look at this this is the
ground that's as far as i can fall and you know something that the only time you really consider
the failure is if you fall and you don't get up but if you get up you never consider the failure
so i never considered myself a failure i always considered myself a winner
even though i fell every so often but i always got up and i always moved forward
i didn't just think about being in movies no i wanted to be a movie star i wanted to have
above the title building i wanted to become the highest paid entertainer i basically wanted to be
another john wayne what's wrong with that never think small think big my third rule is ignore
the naysayers i think it is natural that when you have a big vision and big dreams and you have big
goals that people are going to say around you i don't think it can be done i think it's impossible
i tell you i heard this all the time but i want to tell you don't ever let them stop
you from dreaming and from shooting for the big goal just think about how many times my
career would have stopped my career would have ended if i would have listened to the naysayers
i mean it started right away when i was 15 years old and i became a bodybuilder right after that
when i said i want to be a world champion in bodybuilding i want to be mr universe they
immediately said are you crazy bodybuilding is an american sport forget about it it's nuts and then
when i wanted to go into show business after i won 13 world championship titles in bodybuilding
i said i want to be like reg park i want to be a hercules i want to get into movies
well i tell you when i met those agents and managers their reaction was
oh anna that is so funny you want to be what a leading man oh come on i mean look uh first of
all let's start with your body you're a gigantic you're like a monster are you kidding me and
then your accent oh it gives me the chills just listening to your german [ __ ] come on now let
me be serious have you ever seen an international movie start with the german accent it doesn't
happen forget about that and then your name what is it watson schnitzel or something like that
imagine that everywhere i turned they said no it won't happen it's not going to happen and
forget about it luckily i did not listen i did not listen because i knew if i worked hard enough and
i worked as hard as i did in bodybuilding five six hours a day that i will make it that i
could prove them wrong and i started working very hard i started taking acting classes
english classes even accent removal classes all of a sudden i got a little break all of a sudden
i got a tv show a little part then another little part and then pumping on and stay hungry and then
of course i landed the big role of conan the barbarian so finally i got the big big break
so as you see everything that the naysayers said was a liability became an asset so i
just recommend you very strongly ignore the naysayers the fourth rule is work your ass off
it doesn't matter in what area you're in no pain no gain work your butt off that's what i always
believe no matter what you do work work work the bottom line is if you don't apply that rule all
the other rules won't mean anything when people say i don't have time to work out or i have worked
so hard all day i'm tired or i cannot read another book or i cannot improve myself or i cannot grow
as a person or any of those things what the hell are we talking about here i mean the day is 24
hours you sleep six hours so you have 18 hours left i mean i know there's some of you out there
that say well wait a minute i sleep actually eight hours but let's just sleep faster okay you didn't
i mean let's not get bugged down with this stuff here just remember you can't climb that ladder
of success with your hands in your pockets you must work your ass off it's that simple
and my fifth and last rule is don't just take give something back i love the words of my
father-in-law sergeant shriver he said tear down that mirror that makes you always look at yourself
and you will be able to look beyond that mirror and you will see the millions and
millions of people that need your help and i saw those millions and millions of people
and this is why i tried to take every opportunity that i could to give something back i started
training special olympians i started after school programs for the most vulnerable children for
inner-city children to make them be able to say no to drugs know the gangs and know the violence
we don't have to just work on me we should also work on we the a truly full life
you must give back you must leave the world a better place than you found it
i guarantee you that if you follow all those rules you will have many victories to celebrate
and you will leave a legacy behind that you can be proud of so i want you to remember have a vision
think big ignore the naysayers work your ass off and give back and change the world
because if not us who if not now when thank you very much thank you you