From growing up with his many awesome movies, Arnie, to many of us is a legend. With great lines like “get to the chopper”, or “ I’ll be back”, the most quoted movie line ever, he has certainly built his celebrity status.

He has however done so much more and is truly a man of great success in which we could all learn a thing or two from. And I am sure for all the success he has had, he has had equally a far share of challenges and turmoil.

Like not too long ago he was unfaithful to his wife. Two sides to the story I am sure. But being so successful and so admired I am positive that he would have women throwing themselves at him all the time.

Obviously this one time he couldn’t quite control himself, his natural man instincts, and he caved. That’s is just one assumption. But how quickly can we forget about all the great things one has done when something bad comes up. We can all sometimes be so quick to judge.

His passion and vision has allowed him to become the very best in three careers, bodybuilding, movies and recently the Governor of California. He is now on a new path to give more back.

Recently I listened to Tim Ferriss’ podcast interview with Arnold, which was a fantastic insight into the Arnold story, and I then got the privilege of hearing him speak at a recent conference in Australia.

He is always asked how to become successful so in his speech he gave to the audience his 6 success principles. Here is what I learnt.

1. Have a Clear Vision

Arnold believes this to be the most important of the lot because with out a clear vision and goals on where it is you are going, life will become a chore.

When you wake up everyday without an end goal or vision each day becomes painful. It is passion that is what gets us out of bed, it motivates and pushes us each day a step forward.

With statistics indicating 74% or the American population being unsatisfied with their jobs, similar in Australia, suggesting many of us are living without a vision, without passion.

Arnold remembers as a kid seeing a magazine in the streets with Reg Park as Hercules on the front cover, ripped as every, and from there became obsessed. From there he created his vision and at the age of 20 became the youngest ever to win the Mr Universe tittle.

People asked him why he was so happy and smiling at the Gym and he would say “because this is what I like to do”. It was his passion. Every bicep curl, every rep, every sit up he knew he was one step closer to fulfilling his vision and reaching that goal.

He said he could see himself on that stage accepting the winning trophy until it became a reality.

Arnie did he always has a vision in everything he does.

He reflected back to a scene in Conan, one of his first big hits, where he was crawling across some rough terrain. After many takes his knees and elbows were bleeding and the director asked if he needed to rest, he said, “No, we can do as many takes as needed”.

He had a vision of the end scene and would do as many takes as necessary to get it right.

He said the pain was not permanent but this movie is. All the more reason to get it right! Perhaps we should adopt a similar view with out lives.

2. Dream and Think BIG

This is pretty common among all my mentors and all the people I look to for inspiration. The notion of dreaming BIG!

Well Arnie certainly is no exception to this rule and certainly challenged and continues to challenge all rules.

Who would have imagined that after growing up in a little village in Austria in a Roman Catholic family, with apparently very strict parents, he would become the world champion bodybuilder, become a highly successful actor in block buster movies and to top that become the Governor or California.

Only a man that dreams BIG!

His visions are huge and he said he never wanted to just do something he wanted to be the best and the best have to think big.

Most of us limit ourselves by our thoughts and beliefs and this is something we have absolute control over, so why not change them.

This was his thought on the day, “You use the same energy to think big as it does to think small”.

3. Ignore the Naysayers

Arnold starts of by saying that people always told him that it was impossible but all he ever sees is possibility.

Don’t listen to ‘No’ or ‘Impossible’, as these words often come from others that have limiting beliefs themselves. Listen to what you believe is true, listen to your vision, and follow your dreams.

He talks about how many people throughout his progress in his various careers always had lack of belief that he couldn’t achieve what he wanted to achieve.

How could an Austrian compete and become a world champion body builder against all those Americans, it won’t happen.

Entering his acting career everyone told him he was too ‘bulk’ to be an actor, he wasn’t pretty enough like all the current actors of the day, and certainly his accent was a challenge.

He moved past the naysayers and followed his dreams. He worked his butt off to beat the naysayers.

He recalls practicing his speech with sentences like “A fine wine grows on the vine”. You see the Germans have difficulty with the letters ‘F’, ‘V’ and ‘W’ so he just practiced his arse off.

His advice is that you must push on; you must keep on going and each step forward you keep building up, getting better.

Funnily enough what people said were his liabilities were actually his greatest assets. Director James Cameron said in the movie Terminator it was because Arnold talked like a machine that actually made the movie such a great success.

You see it is our obstacles in our path that usually present the way forward. It is our ability to overcome these challenges and step outside our comfort zone that lead us to great heights.

4. Forget Plan B

Simply he says you must forget about your plan B, and simply put all your focus in your plan A.

When there is a plan B there is doubt in you ability to achieve plan A and when there is doubt there is undoubtedly limiting beliefs which will decreases your chances in reaching your dreams.

This was his line and I quote, “When there is a plan B you take your eye off the ball”.

He said you just have to never give up. Go out there and try it, give it your very best and if you fail then keep trying and keep failing but every time you fail, fail better.

We must not forget however that in life there needs to be balance. While your plan A is your primary vision and goal in life its ok to have other passions, which I think personally, can sometimes be considered as plan B, C or D.

Arnold certainly juggles many things at once, which takes us to his next rule.

5. Work Your Arse Off

Without a doubt in this world all the successful people I hear about have got there through bloody hard work. Some get lucky but luck doesn’t last forever!

We you work you arse of at the beginning things start to flow the longer you go. It is at this point people think you are lucky but haven’t seen all the work you have put in.

Arnold says, “ No pain, no gain.”

He remembers a time he heard Muhammad Ali being asked how many push-ups he does and Ali replied, “ I don’t know, I keep going until it burns.”

Arnold certainly isn’t a fan of people who say I don’t have enough time. He says if you need to sleep than that is fine but sleep faster.

There is always plenty of time in the day but it really depends on how you want to make use of it. Watching T.V, reading a book, studying a language, these are choices so choose wisely.

Arnold said he uses every waking hour possible. He said when he was bodybuilding he was also a builder so he would go to the gym early and after work and than after that he would take acting lessons.

These are his thoughts, “Early to bed, early to rise, than advertise”.

6. Don’t Just Take

Arnold final tip is that you must give back, you cannot just always take. Its important to leave your mark in the world.

“We are judged not by how much we take but how much we have given”, Arnold

This is in fact one of our human needs and that is the ability to give back beyond ourselves in a meaningful way.

He discusses that in the world behind “the mirror” there are people that need our help. It doesn’t have to be a global mission because there are plenty of people locally that need help also but importantly just give a little back.

He said helping people just made him feel good to the point he decided to run for Governor. No money, no previous career or experience, he just loved it. It was so far the most exciting job he has had.

After ending his political term he has new missions and visions including his fitness and environmental crusades.

“Each of us has the power to see the change we wish to see in the world”.

He finishes of by saying that we all have the responsibility to leave this world to our future kids in good shape.

“Don’t just work on me, work on we”, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

So there you have it some tips from a pretty stand up guy and certainly some points to take note on.

I personal took a few extra notes from what I have observed and that was that he has humour and doesn’t take himself too seriously. Which is think is something we can all learn to do better.

And the other thing is that you just have to go for it, try, cry and keep on pushing forward.