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  • - People ask me all the time,

  • what is the secret to success?

  • And I always tell them, well, the short version is,

  • you got to have a 22-inch biceps.

  • (audience laughing) (upbeat music)

  • And you gotta be able to kill predators with your bare hands

  • and of course you got to have this charming Austrian accent.

  • (audience laughing) That's a given.

  • (audience cheering and applauding)

  • The long version is that I actually always had five rules.

  • You don't need to be a bodybuilding champion,

  • you don't need to want to be an action hero

  • or anything like that.

  • If you want to excel in whatever you do,

  • those rules are for you.

  • So my first rule is find your vision and follow it.

  • If you don't have a goal, if you don't have a vision,

  • you just drift around and you're not gonna be happy.

  • I grew up after the Second World War,

  • Austria right along with Germany

  • lost the Second World War.

  • There was of course depression,

  • there was a terrible economic situation.

  • I wanted to get out of there, I wanted to escape.

  • And luckily one day in school I watched a documentary

  • about America.

  • I knew exactly that is where I wanted to end up.

  • The question was just how do I get there?

  • How do I get to America?

  • No one had the money to travel or anything.

  • But one day I was fortunate enough

  • to see a bodybuilding magazine and on the cover

  • was this very muscular guy.

  • Mr. Universe becomes Hercules star, his name was Reg Park.

  • I read the article as fast as I could,

  • learning about how he grew up in Leeds in England, poor.

  • And how he trained five hours a day, every single day

  • and trained and trained and trained

  • so then he finally became Mr. Great Britain.

  • And then became Mr. Universe, and then he won

  • a second Mr. Universe title and a third Mr. Universe title

  • and then all of a sudden he landed in Rome in Cinecitta

  • doing Hercules movies.

  • And as I read, I became more and more certain

  • I had that vision very clearly laid out.

  • To be a champion on that same stage

  • where he won the Mr. Universe, and then to move to America,

  • then get into movies.

  • From that moment on, everything that I did,

  • no matter how hard I had to work

  • or how much I had to struggle, it didn't matter

  • 'cause I knew what the purpose was and I found my passion.

  • Always discover your vision and the rest will follow.

  • (audience applauding) Number second, my second rule

  • is never ever think small.

  • You have to go and shoot for the stars.

  • I didn't just think about being in movies,

  • no I wanted to be a movie star.

  • I wanted to have above the title billing.

  • 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 gonna say around you

  • I don't think it can be done.

  • I think it's impossible.

  • I mean, it started right away when I was 15 years old

  • and I became a bodybuilder.

  • Right after it happened, 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, (audience applauding)

  • 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 (laughs),

  • (audience laughing) oh Arnold, that is so funny.

  • (laughs) You want to be what, a leading man?

  • Oh come on, I mean look first of all

  • let's start with your body.

  • You're gigantic, you're like a monster.

  • And then your accent, oh it gives me the chills

  • just listening to your German bullshit, come on now.

  • Have you ever seen an international movie star

  • with a German accent?

  • It doesn't happen, forget about that.

  • And then your name, what is it, Schwartzen, Schnitzel

  • or something like that? (audience laughing)

  • People are gonna storm the theater and the movie houses

  • because Schwartzenschnitzel

  • (audience laughing) is starring in a movie.

  • Oh yeah, I can see that already.

  • Imagine that, everywhere I turned they said no,

  • it won't happen, it's not gonna happen and forget about it.

  • Luckily I did not listen.

  • I started taking acting classes, English classes,

  • even accent removal classes. (audience laughing)

  • I ran around all day saying lines like

  • a fine wine grows on a vine. (audience laughing)

  • 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 Iron and Stay Hungry

  • and then of course I landed the big role

  • as Conan the Barbarian so finally I got the big big break.

  • (audience cheering and applauding)

  • And you know what was so interesting about it

  • was the director said that at the press conference

  • if we wouldn't have had Schwarzenegger with those muscles

  • we would have had to build one.

  • And then when I did Terminator, James Cameron said

  • the I'll be back line became one of the most

  • famous movie lines in history because of Arnold's

  • crazy accent because he sounded

  • (audience cheering) like a machine!

  • (audience applauding)

  • So as you see, everything that the naysayers said

  • was a liability became an asset.

  • Ignore the naysayers.

  • (audience cheering and applauding)

  • The fourth rule is work your ass off.

  • You never want to fail because you didn't work hard enough.

  • And it doesn't matter in what area you're in.

  • No pain, no gain.

  • Listen, when I came to the United States, I remember

  • that I trained five hours a day every day

  • and I was managing a construction business

  • and I was a bricklayer and I went to college also.

  • And I took acting classes from eight o'clock at night

  • to 12 o'clock midnight, every day I did that.

  • Work your butt off, that's what I always believe

  • no matter what you do, work, work, work.

  • My fifth and last rule is don't just take,

  • give something back.

  • 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 this is why I try to take every opportunity

  • that occurred 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,

  • no to gangs, and no to violence.

  • We all can create change whether it is in our neighborhood

  • or in our local schools 'cause the bottom line is

  • it is up to us.

  • 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?

- People ask me all the time,

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