Be Useful – 7 Tools for Life with Arnold Schwarzenegger
The Amplified Impact Podcast
November 10th, 2023
I recently got my hands on a fascinating book called “Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life” by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
His story is nothing short of incredible, from bodybuilder to Hollywood superstar to California governor.
It’s hard not to find something to learn from a man who achieved so much.
His book, in particular, encourages us to think beyond ourselves and embrace a life of purpose.
It’s a quick read, but it’s packed with insights and stories from Arnold’s life. So, it’s a solid recommendation.
TWEETABLE QUOTE:
“Before you can achieve anything, you must believe it. You must be able to see it. And I think it’s so interesting to stop and reflect on the fact that everything you see around, you know, these headphones that I’m holding up, whether or not you’re watching this on YouTube or just listening to this, but the fact that you’re listening to this, wherever you’re listening to it, on whatever device you’re listening to, everything around you was before it was made into reality.”
– Anthony Vicino
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Episode Transcript:
Anthony Vicino:
What’s up, everybody? Welcome back to the podcast. Today I want to talk about a book I recently read called Be Useful Seven Tools for Life by Arnold Schlotznegger. That’s maybe the worst Arnold impersonation anybody’s ever done. But in fairness, Arnold kind of also sounds like he’s doing a bad Arnold impersonation. So I don’t know if anybody’s really got this figured out. Anyways, this book came across my table because my lovely life partner, Jamie, she knows that my love language is books. So if you want to slide into my DMs, books are the way to get there. Don’t slide into my DMS.
Anthony Vicino:
Please don’t, as a joke. But she brought this book to me because she knows that I’m a big fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger, actually. I think he has a fascinating story. I’ve read multiple biographies, autobiographies. I’ve watched the Netflix series that was all about his life. And I think he’s just a phenomenally interesting human who came from nothing, built an extraordinary life, rose to the top of multiple domains. And I think whenever you find somebody who does that, whether or not you agree with their politics or the perspectives on certain things, if you disagree with them, that’s okay. But it’s hard to look at that type of person and say, I don’t have anything to learn from you.
Anthony Vicino:
And so I never really thought very much of Arnold until a couple of years ago. To be honest, I kind of thought that he know I knew about his bodybuilding career, that he was great at that. Didn’t really think much of it, though, because bodybuilding always kind of seemed a little bit like, I don’t know, not narcissistic. That’s not the right word, but, I don’t know, just kind of meatheaded. Like, you go into the gym, you do the work, you get big, and like, cool. Good for you. Not saying that if that’s your jam, awesome. But I just never really thought too deeply about it.
Anthony Vicino:
But I knew he came from that world, and I knew that he was an action star, and he starred in all these great movies. And I never really thought that he was a particularly great actor because I never stopped to reflect on it. I just kind of took him for granted that he was there. And then he went on to become the governor of California, which kind of always struck me as more of a gimmick than anything else. But as I kind of dove more deeply into his life story, you start to see these patterns recurring, and you’re like, man, this guy didn’t just get lucky to be the world’s best bodybuilder or to be the highest paid actor in Hollywood or to be the governor of the 9th largest economy in the world. And regardless of, like, you could chalk it up to luck. That’s an astounding amount of luck. Now, I don’t mean to suggest that Arnold is, like, the perfect role model.
Anthony Vicino:
He has done a lot of things poorly, and he owns up to that. I think he does a very good job of owning up to his shortcoming, his mistakes in life. But there’s a lot to learn from this guy. And I think when you go into it saying, what can I take away? There’s a lot. And so this book Jamie got for me, I think he just published it a couple of months ago. It’s very new. It’s called be useful Seven Tools for Life. And you know me, I’m all about looking for tools and things that I can incorporate into my daily life that can help me become my best version of myself.
Anthony Vicino:
So I blew through this book. It was a quick read, but it is very, very good. Surprisingly, has a lot of stories from all the different areas of his life that he had success in, in areas where he didn’t have success. But really, it comes down to six different lessons that he shares. Well, actually, he says seven, but I have noted six, so I must have missed one. But we’ll make do. I want to share with these with you guys because I think each one of these is very interesting and applicable regardless of where you are in life. So the number one lesson that he has, well, number one, let’s talk about be useful.
Anthony Vicino:
Like that advice, that was advice that his dad gave to him when he was a little boy. He’s like, whatever you do in life, just be useful. And I think there’s a lot to be said about that. I think more so than being happy. I think we need to have, as humans, we need to have a life of purpose and meaning. And to do that, I think being useful is a really good yardstick. Like, are you being useful to your family, to your community, to the world at large? And the more useful you are, I think the more fulfillment and purpose and meaning and value you feel in your life. And so I think chasing happiness is the wrong target.
Anthony Vicino:
I think choosing to chase after utility is actually a very good target. So being useful, and this is something I could imagine my grandfather and my dad even saying to me when I was little, is just be useful. And so here’s how to do that, number one, he says, have a vision, a clear vision for your life. Before you can achieve anything, you must believe it. You must be able to see it. And I think it’s so interesting to stop and reflect on the fact that everything you see around, you know, these headphones that I’m holding up, whether or not you’re watching this on YouTube or just listening to this, but the fact that you’re listening to this, wherever you’re listening to, on whatever device you’re listening to it, everything around you was before it was made into reality. It was the figment of somebody’s imagination. Somebody had to dream up this pen.
Anthony Vicino:
They had to think it was possible to create it before they could actually create it. So thought is the manifestation of everything. It all begins with a thought. And the more clear our thoughts and the vision are for the thing that we’re trying to build, the more likely we’re going to be able to realize that end result. And so we need to have a vision for our life. It needs to be crystal clear. And one of the things I think that’s so fascinating about Arnold’s life is his ability to clarify that mission or his vision and see it so crystal clear in his mind’s eye that it’s not even really a question of if, it’s just a matter of when. And I think there’s a lot of power in that.
Anthony Vicino:
As I dive into the lives of more and more successful peoPle. I’ve been on a big biography kick this year and reading about incredible people. Einstein, Ben Franklin, Rockefeller, each one had a vision, a very clear vision for themselves and who they were and what they wanted. So that’s where it starts. Number two is to think big. And this is hard for a lot of people. I think a lot of people, they’re afraid to think big. They’re afraid to dream big for their lives, because maybe they’re coming from humble beginnings, and they’ve been told and shown repeatedly over the course of their life that they don’t have what it takes to achieve big, audacious dreams.
Anthony Vicino:
And so they kind of scale it back and they go for the more obtainable goals or things that seem obtainable. And this is problematic in the sense that, one, you only have this one life, so you might as well go all out. You might as well dream big and go for the biggest, most audacious thing that you could possibly achieve. Because what else is there? Why not? Why not go for that? But two is that it often takes just as much energy to go for the big thing than it does for the small thing. And this is surprising, but it’s true, and I see it over and over in businesses, is that it’s often easier to build a big business, like 100 million dollar business than it is to build a $1 million business. Because, one, you have a bigger dream that you can motivate the team around, you have more resources. And so in a lot of ways, if you’re going to do something, do it big. I think Stephen Schwartzman, who is the CEO and founder of BlackRock, said this is that if given the choice between two dreams, always go for the bigger one.
Anthony Vicino:
Number three on Arnold’s list here was to work your ass off. Work is the variable of success that nobody can afford to ignore. I’m not all about the hustle culture, but with that said, nothing gets done if you don’t do the work. And so I also work very, very hard, despite the fact that I’m not really on that hustle grind. You need to be able to put in the hours, need to put in the reps, put in the work, and there’s no substitute for that. And so I don’t think we need to drill that one too deeply. But the fourth one on his list is actually pretty interesting. It’s to always be selling or sell, sell, sell.
Anthony Vicino:
If you have a dream that you’re trying to achieve, if you’re working towards that goal, you need to be selling constantly. Not selling a product per se, but selling yourself, selling the dream, selling the people around you. You need to be selling. And I think selling is one of the most important skills that you can learn in life. One, for making money, but two also for just being more impactful, influential and making a meaningful dent in the universe. As Steve Jobs would say, selling is the component of that. We talked in a recent video on the YouTube channel called how to outwork everybody by being bored in there. No, that’s not the video.
Anthony Vicino:
I’m sorry, it was Alex Hormozi got. Here’s the real secret behind Alex Hormones’success in there. We talked about the four types of luck. In particular, we talked about how to increase your surface area of luck. And surface area of luck is a really interesting concept. The way to think about this is your surface area of luck expands based off of how many times you do the thing and how many people are aware of the thing that you’re doing. So you do the thing more, you put in more reps, you get better, you give more swings at bat. But then the more people that know about the thing that you’re doing increases your surface area of luck.
Anthony Vicino:
So there’s these two variables at play here. And so you could focus on the one, you could focus on the other, but the best way is to focus on both. And that’s where I think selling really comes in, is telling people about what you do. And that has never been easier with social media. I mean, you’re listening to this podcast right now because I’m telling you, I’m selling you on something, even though I’m not handing you a product in exchange for cash goods. I’m selling you on something. Right. I’m selling you on the idea that your time and attention is worth giving to me for the next couple of minutes.
Anthony Vicino:
Whether or not that is true, we’ll see. Number five on Arnold’s list is to shut up and listen. And this one is actually a two parter. You know, the whole idea that you have two ears, one mouth. So we should listen in proportion to. We should listen in proportion to how many ears we have and talk in proportion to how many mouths or whatever. So listen more, talk less. And there’s a really interesting idea here, which is, I can’t remember who said this, but they said when you speak, you’re only repeating what you already know.
Anthony Vicino:
And when you listen, there’s a chance you might learn. And I find that really interesting. When you speak, you are only sharing things that you already know. There’s a lot there, a lot to chew on. But it’s true that listening is the gateway to learning. And learning is potentially the highest ROI skill that you have in life. Because if you know how to learn, if you have the ability to go out there and be curious, infinitely curious. This is something that Arnold talks a lot about, and I really resonate with because you guys know I hold curiosity to be the most important trait variable in people that I hire.
Anthony Vicino:
I look for insatiable curiosity, more so than intelligence or genetics, hardworking school diploma degrees, any of that stuff. I look for curiosity. I want curious people who are seeking the answers, who don’t think that they have all the answers, and they’re willing to go as deep as necessary to find the solution. So I’m all up in an agreement on this one. And then the last one, the last tool for a useful life from Arnold is to break your mirrors. And I think this was a really interesting one. He’s really saying, like, the mirror is in the beginning. When you’re on your path to winning the money game, let’s say you’re really focused on you.
Anthony Vicino:
It’s very inward and that’s okay because you need to put your head down and do the work for a while, right? And get to that place where maybe you are taken care of. But once you do have that figured out, you need to set your sights on bigger purposes in life. And for that, that means that we need to look beyond ourselves to the people around us, to the world. And I found personally an immense amount of satisfaction when I stopped focusing on winning the money game for my own sake and started looking at how to play this game in a way that maybe adds benefit to people outside of myself. And that’s where this podcast really came into being. Was like wanting to give back, to share something, share the lessons, so that maybe just know we can reach down and help somebody else pull themselves out of the bucket of crabs. And I don’t know, there’s something so deeply impactful about that. Now what Arnold says is it’s never too early to start, that you could do it right now, regardless of where you are on your journey.
Anthony Vicino:
You could start reaching down and pulling up and you could help and set your vision on the world around you. And it’s something that I did not do. Took me a long time to really open up my eyes and look out beyond myself, but it’s something that I found the most amount of fulfillment in my life from. So I do encourage you to think deeply on how you can start giving back to the world. Even if you’re not yet in a place where you feel ready to do that. It’s never too early. So those are seven tools for a useful life. I do recommend this book.
Anthony Vicino:
It’s very, very good. I could see myself actually revisiting this book, so very good purchase, Jamie, I really appreciate the gift. Thank you very much to everybody that takes a little bit of time out of their day to join me here. I appreciate every single one of you. I’ll catch you back around these parts tomorrow, but until then, stay hyper focused, my friends.
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