Book notes: “Total Recall” by Arnold Schwarzenegger

On the visions he had for himself and his incredible focus

• “Every painful set, every extra rep, was a step toward my goal of winning Mr. Austria and entering the Mr. Europe competition”

• “I refined this vision until it was very specific. I was going to go for the Mr. Universe title; I was going to break records in power lifting; I was going to Hollywood; I was going to be like Reg Park”

• “For the first few months in Munich, I let myself get carried away by nightlife and fun. But then I realized I was losing focus, and I started disciplining myself. The goal was not to have fun but to become the world champion in bodybuilding. If I was going to get my seven hours of sleep, I had to be in bed by eleven. There was always time to have fun, and we always had fun anyway.”

• “Being on that pedestal was always my vision of where I would end up. It was very clear: I knew what it was going to feel like and look like”

• “After that, I never went to a competition to compete. I went to win. Even though I didn’t win every time, that was my mindset. I became a total animal. If you tuned into my thoughts before a competition, you would hear something like: “I deserve that pedestal, I own it, and the sea ought to part for me. Just get out of the fucking way, I’m on a mission. So just step aside and gimme the trophy”. I pictured myself high up on the pedestal, trophy in hand. Everyone else would be standing below and I would look down.”

• “…by five thirty we’d be at his gym at 42 Kirk Street working out. I never even got up at that hour, but now** I learned the advantage of training early, before the day starts, when there are no other responsibilities and nobody else is asking anything of you.**”

• “First I had to redo myself mentally — let go of the 250-pound image of Mr. Olympia that was in my head. I started visualizing myself instead as lean and athletic. And all of a sudden what I saw in the mirror no longer fit. Seeing that helped kill my appetite for all the protein shakes and all the extra steak I was used to. I pictured myself as a runner rather than a lifter, and changed around my whole training regimen to emphasize running, bicycling and swimming rather than weights.”

• “The goal had to be something that made total sense and that I could look forward to every day, not just something I was doing for money or some other arbitrary reason, because then it wouldn’t work.”

On his ability to sell and to craft his own personal brand

• “A cardinal rule was never to let a customer walk out the door without a purchase. If you did, it just showed what a poor salesman you were. Even if it was just one little bolt, you had to make a sale. That meant working every possible angle. If I could’t sell the linoleum tiles, I’d push the floor cleaner”

• “You could argue that, no matter what the part, being in front of a camera was always good practice. But I felt that I was born to be a leading man, I had to be on the posters, I had to be the one carrying the movie. Of course, I realized that this sounded crazy to everybody but me. But I believed that the only way you become a leading man is treating yourself like leading man and working your ass off. If you don’t believe in yourself, then how will anyone else believe in you ? “

• “People wont but this book unless we tell them it exists , “I pointed out”. Otherwise, how do they know? If you want to see it go through the roof, then don’t just send me to six cities. We’re going to go to thirty cities, and we’re going to do it in thirty days.”

On his willingness to act and don’t overthink

• “Knowing it all is not really the answer, because this guy is not making the money to have bigger car. He should be driving a Mercedes.”

• “Have a vision, trust yourself, break some rules, ignore the naysayers, don’t be afraid to fail.”

Arnold Lessons:

1. Turn your liabilities into assets

2. When someone tells you no, you should hear yes

3. Never follow the crowd. Go where it’s empty. “It’s easier to stand out when you aim straight for the top”

4. No matter what you do in life, selling is part of it. “The most important thing is to make people aware”

5. Don’t overthink. “The key thing is to let both the mind and the body float. And then when you need to make a decision or hit a problem hard, you’re ready with all of your energy. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use your brain, but part of us needs to go through life instinctively. By not analyzing everything, you get rid of all the garbage that loads you up and bogs you down. Turning off your mind is an art. Its a form of meditation. Knowledge is extremely important for making decisions, for a reason that’s not necessarily obvious. The more knowledge you have, the more you’re free to rely on your instincts. The more you know, the more you hesitate, which is why even the smartest people blow it big-time. When you are not confident of you decision-making process, it will slow you down.

6. Forget plan B. “To test yourself and grow, you have to operate without a safety net”

7. You can use outrageous humor to settle a score

8. The day has 24 hours

9. Reps, reps, reps

10. Take care of your body and your mind.

11. Stay hungry. “Be hungry for success, hungry to make your mark, hungry to be seen and to be heard and to have an effect”