Be Useful

Seven Tools for Life

self help
personal development
motivation
biography
Realise your true purpose with this Learnerd summary of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ‘Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life’. We distil Arnold’s seven rules for success, covering how to build a clear vision, work your ass off, sell your dream, and the importance of giving back. Get practical, powerful wisdom from a life of extraordinary achievement.

1 Listen to Be Useful Summary

2 Book Summary: Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life by Arnold Schwarzenegger

2.1 Tool 1: Have a Clear Vision

Everything good starts with a clear vision. It is your purpose and meaning, a picture of what you want your life to look like and a plan to get there. It gives you a way to measure your choices: does this decision get you closer to or further from your vision?

  1. Start Broad and Zoom In: Your initial vision can be fuzzy. Arnold’s was simply “America”. Start with your childhood obsessions or broad passions. Then, like zooming in on a map, get more specific. Arnold saw a magazine cover of bodybuilder Reg Park and realised bodybuilding was his path to America. The picture gets sharper, and the plan takes shape.
  2. Create Space and Time: If you don’t have a vision, you must create the space for inspiration to strike. Put away distractions. Go for walks, sit in a jacuzzi, ride a bike. Let your mind wander. This is where ideas and clarity emerge.
  3. Really See It: You must visualise your vision with crystal clarity. See yourself on the podium, see your name on the movie poster, see yourself in the governor’s office. Make it a memory that just hasn’t happened yet. This isn’t magic; it’s about tattooing the goal to the inside of your eyelids so every action is measured against it.
  4. Look in the Mirror: You must be self-aware. Check in with yourself daily to ensure the person in the mirror aligns with the person in your vision. This self-awareness prevents you from getting lost or becoming someone you don’t respect.

If you don’t have a broad vision, start small.

  1. Create little goals: Focus on daily improvements in exercise, nutrition, or learning. Bank small achievements to build momentum.
  2. Build out: Let your vision open up from these small beginnings. Instead of zooming in from a broad place, build out from a small one.
  3. Create space: Put your devices away. Take walks, find quiet time. Give inspiration a chance to find you.

2.2 Tool 2: Never Think Small

Once you have a vision, you must think big. Aiming for a smaller goal automatically makes the big goal out of reach.

  1. Wenn Schon, Denn Schon: A German saying meaning, “If you’re going to do something, DO IT. Go all out”. Don’t half-ass it. Success requires focusing on the big picture and the tiny details. Arnold cut the legs off his sweatpants to force himself to see and work on his underdeveloped calves - a small detail that was crucial for winning Mr. Olympia.
  2. Ignore the Naysayers: The bigger your dream, the more people will tell you it’s impossible. Use their doubt as fuel. The quickest way to get Arnold to do something is to tell him it can’t be done.
  3. No Plan Bs: Plan B is a plan for failure. The moment you create a backup plan, you give yourself an easy out when things get hard. It shrinks your dream and makes you your own naysayer. Plan B is to succeed at Plan A.
  4. Blaze Trails for Others: When you achieve a big goal, you show others what’s possible. Before Arnold, few Austrians moved to America. After he succeeded, many followed. Fulfilling your dream gives others permission to chase theirs.

2.3 Tool 3: Work Your Ass Off

There is no substitute for putting in the work. No shortcuts, no magic pills. Working your ass off is the only thing that works 100% of the time for 100% of the things worth achieving.

  1. Reps, Reps, Reps: Put in the repetitions, and make them good reps. Maximum effort, proper form. This builds a strong base and muscle memory so that when it’s time to perform, you don’t have to think - you just do it.
  2. Pain is Temporary: To do great things that last, sacrifices are necessary. Pain is an indicator of sacrifice and a measure of growth potential. As director John Milius told Arnold on the set of Conan, “Pain is temporary, this film will be permanent”. Embrace productive pain.
  3. Follow Up, Follow Through: Don’t be lazy. Important things are never simple; they rely on timing, other people, and moving parts. It’s up to you to see things through to completion. Don’t just start the ball rolling; ensure it reaches its destination.
  4. There Are 24 Hours. Use Them: Busyness is bullshit. If your vision matters, you make the time. Progress is energising. Audit your time - how much is wasted on social media or TV? An hour a day is powerful. In a year, that’s a 365-page book or 50 pounds lost.

Arnold has a rule: no complaining about a situation unless you’re prepared to do something to make it better. Complaining doesn’t get you closer to your goals. When he saw a lack of PPE during the pandemic, he didn’t just complain about politicians; he called his contacts and donated $1 million to get masks to frontline responders. Shift from bitching to solving.

2.4 Other key tools

You can have the best idea in the world, but if nobody knows it exists, it’s a waste. You must sell your vision.

  1. Know Your Customer: Pay attention and figure out who you need to get a “yes” from. It’s not always the obvious person.
  2. Speak It into Existence: Talk about your vision as if it’s already a reality. Don’t say “I will be a leading man,” say “I can picture myself as a leading man.” This creates a powerful self-fulfilling prophecy.
  3. Let Them Underestimate You: When people underestimate you, it’s a golden opportunity. It lowers their expectations, making it easier for you to blow them away. Use their momentum against them.
  4. Own Your Story: Be yourself. Don’t hide from your past or your mistakes. Authenticity is the best sales tool. If you don’t tell your story, someone else will tell it for you.

Problems and adversity are normal. You have to learn to manage them.

  1. Find the Positive: Our brains have a negativity bias. You must actively fight it. Shift your perspective to find the good in any situation. This is the Stoic concept of amor fati - love your fate.
  2. Reframe Failure: Failure is not fatal; it’s a progress report. It shows you what doesn’t work so you can find what does. It’s an opportunity to learn and come back stronger.
  3. Break the Rules: The seven dirtiest words are: “It’s how things have always been done.” If the status quo is standing in the way of your vision, break the rules.

You have to be hungry for knowledge. The world is the ultimate classroom.

  1. Be a Sponge: Soak up as much information as you can, from anywhere you can. Knowledge is power, and information makes you useful.
  2. Be Curious: Ask good questions. Listen more than you talk. As the Dalai Lama said, “When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new”.
  3. Put Knowledge to Good Use: Information is useless if you don’t apply it. Flex your mind like a muscle. Use what you learn to solve problems and help others.

Don’t ever call Arnold a self-made man. We are all here because of the help of others. You have a responsibility to give back.

  1. Life Isn’t Zero-Sum: We can all grow together. Helping others doesn’t diminish your success; it enhances it. Helping your training partner makes them a better competitor, which pushes you to become even better.
  2. Give Back: You have more to offer than you know - your time, your skills, your attention. Start small. Pay it forward.
  3. Experience the “Helper’s High”: Giving back releases endorphins and oxytocin. It’s a natural feel-good drug that becomes addictive. The more you help, the more you’ll want to help.
  4. Shift to “We-Focused”: As Sargent Shriver said, “Break your mirrors… You’ll get more satisfaction from having improved your neighborhood… than you’ll ever get from your muscles”. A life of service brings the greatest contentment.

2.5 Key Phrases to use

  • What is your vision for your life?
  • Is this decision getting me closer to or further from my vision?
  • Wenn schon, denn schon. (If you’re going to do it, DO IT.)
  • Pain is temporary.
  • I’ll be back.
  • Shift gears and find the positive.
  • Shut your mouth, open your mind.
  • Break your mirrors.
  • Work your ass off, and then advertise
  • Only count once it starts to hurt (Mohammad Ali on counting situps)

3 Summary Video

4 Practise

Arnold’s first tool is to have a clear vision. Without it, the other tools have no purpose. Take 15 minutes and practise creating your own vision.

  1. Start Broad: Write down a broad passion or an early obsession. What did you love doing as a child? What excites you now? Don’t worry about specifics. (e.g., “Helping animals,” “Building things,” “Exploring the world”).
  2. Zoom In: Now, try to sharpen that picture. What does “helping animals” look like? Is it being a vet? Starting a rescue? Volunteering? What path makes that broad vision more concrete?
  3. Visualise It: Close your eyes and really see it. What does success look like in five years? What are you doing? How does it feel? Write down the most vivid details you can imagine.

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