“I saw my career in front of me. I saw myself on the Mr. Universe stage with the trophy and thousands of people in the auditorium screaming Arnold, Arnold, Arnold.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger
I watched the 3-part Arnold Schwarzenegger documentary on Netflix recently and came away admiring two specific traits.
Vision
The three episodes cover the three different parts of his career – bodybuilding, acting, and government.
In pursuing his goals in each area, he describes having a vision so clear that he can see it as if it’s already real.
As a teen, he envisioned himself on stage accepting the Mr. Universe trophy and hearing the crowd chant his name. Just a few years later, that’s exactly what happened.
As I’m figuring out my next chapter, I’ll be incorporating a practice of vision meditation in my life.
“It’s not a fantasy. It’s not a dream. Fuck the dream. You have to have a clear vision. And when you visualize something really clearly, you believe that you 100% can get there.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Focus
Arnold read about the fitness routine of one of his idols and saw it as a guide to achieving his goals.
He started going to the gym every day and would work out for seven hours.
This wasn’t a dream for him. It wasn’t a wish. He was dedicated.
He saw a crystal-clear vision of the future and his mind started searching for ways to make it happen.
And of course, he did the hard part – the work. But hearing him talk about it, you get the feeling it wasn’t work to him.
Clearly it was hard, but there was a joy in pursuing his vision. He loved what he was doing.
I’m inspired.
If you need some inspiration in your life, add Arnold to your Netflix queue.

This week’s image created by MidJourney with the prompt: Arnold Schwarzenegger lifting a barbell, pixar-style.