Arnold Says: Work Your *ss Off: Tool #3 for Being Useful (Heroic +1 #1678)

Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Heroic +1. In our last couple ones, we explored the first two tools to create a great life that Arnold Schwarzenegger shares in his new book, Be Useful. Today we're going to take a quick look at tool number three. Work your butt off. Let's get right to work. Arnold tells us, and I quote, I bet you and I have a lot in common. We're not the strongest, smartest, or richest people we know. We're not the fastest or the most connected. We're not the best looking or the most talented. We don't have the best genetics. But what we do have is something a lot of those other people will never have. The will to work. He continues by saying, if there is one unavoidable truth in this world, it's that there is no substitute for putting in the work. There is no shortcut or growth hack or magic pill that can get you around the hard work of doing your job well, winning something you care about, or of making your dreams come true. He says people have tried to cut corners or skip steps in the process for as long as hard work has been hard. Eventually those people either fall behind or get left in our dust. Because working your butt off is the only thing that works a hundred percent of the time for 100% of the things worth achieving. And end quote. So tool number one, have a clear vision. Tool number two, never think small. Then what? Then we get to tool number three, work your butt off. Here's a hint on whether or not you're working hard enough, Arnold. Again, if the work of being great or achieving something special hasn't hurt or cost you anything or at least made you uncomfortable, then. Then I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, but you're not working hard enough. You're not sacrificing all that could be sacrificed in order to be all that you could become. Now, Arnold tells us that in his quest to become the greatest bodybuilder ever, he trained for five hours per day for 15 years. Get this, at his peak, he was moving 40,000 pounds of weight per workout. I got goosebumps typing that. Subchapters in this chapter include reps, reps, reps. Pain is temporary, follow up, follow through, and there are 24 hours. Use them. Additional admonitions include don't be a lazy. Ahem. Do the work. The only time you are allowed to use the phrase I took care of it is when it's done completely. Now, as I typed that and flipped back through the underlines and asterisks, deciding which of the near infinite number of quotable passages I can pull out for you. I was struck by the clarity of Arnold's demands and the ferocity with which he practiced his philosophy. I also thought of Phil Stutz and his big three things from which we will never be exonerated pain, uncertainty, and constant hard work. I also thought of his favorite teacher, Rudolf Snyder, and the two things he said get in our way of actualizing our potential, our fear and our laziness. I'll leave it at that for now. Actually, one more thing before we move on. Know this Arnold didn't approach his life with a joyless urgency. As Oliver Berkman puts it in 4,000 weeks, you simply won't put in the hard work unless you love what you do. Which is why Csikszentmihalyi said, creative persons differ from one another in a variety of ways, but in one respect they are unanimous. They all love what they do. It is not the hope of achieving fame or making money that drives them. Rather, it is the opportunity to do the work that they enjoy doing. And that's why Arnold says, when did you ever have fun? Others will wonder. I never wasn't having fun. I'll say, why would I bust my butt like that if it wasn't fun? That's today's plus one. Let's have fun going all in today.