Be Useful

Seven Tools for Life

By: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Narrated by: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Brought to you by Penguin.

The seven rules to follow to realise your true purpose in life distilled by Arnold Schwarzenegger from his own journey of ceaseless reinvention and extraordinary achievement, and available for absolutely anyone.

The world's greatest bodybuilder. The world's highest paid movie star. The leader of the world's sixth largest economy. That these are the same person sounds like the setup to a joke. But this is no joke. This is Arnold Schwarzenegger. And this did not happen by accident.

Arnold's stratospheric success happened as part of a process. As the result of clear vision, big thinking, hard work, direct communication, resilient problem-solving, open-minded curiosity, and a commitment to giving back. All of it guided by the one lesson Arnold's father hammered into him above all: be useful. As Arnold conquered every realm he entered, he kept his father's adage close to his heart.

Written with his uniquely earnest, blunt, powerful voice, BE USEFUL takes readers on an inspirational tour through Arnold's toolkit for a meaningful life. Arnold shows us how to put those tools to work, in service of whatever fulfilling future we can dream up for ourselves. He brings his insights to vivid life with compelling personal stories, life-changing successes and life-threatening failures alike--some of them famous, some told here for the first time ever.

Too many of us struggle to disconnect from our self-pity and connect to our purpose. At an early age, Arnold forged the mental tools to build the ladder out of the poverty and narrow-mindedness of his rural Austrian hometown, tools he used to add rung after rung from there. Now he has shared that wisdom with all of us. As he puts it, no one is going to come rescue you - you only have yourself. The good news, it turns out, is that you are all you need.

©2023 Arnold Schwarzenegger (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Inspirational!

Grit, sweat and perseverance! Love it!
So many great insights and lots of subtle laughs.

Be Useful

The Best Motivational Book in Recent times,Very inspiring, It’s worth listening again and again.

Very practical

Very practical and useful tips from someone who has walked the talk, definitely would recommend

Fantastic

New drinking game. You have to drink a protein shake every time Arnie says ‘fantastic’. Slightly disappointed i didn’t hear a miniature donkey in the background

Funny. Wise. Entertaining.

In one sense, there is nothing revolutionary here. You are unlikely to listen to this book and go, 'Wow! I've never heard that concept before.' But as the saying goes, 'Common sense isn't always common practice.' So even though we may have heard similar wisdom from other sources before, that doesn't mean we are applying it in our life.

So the great thing about this book is that it is a collection of inspiring anecdotes and ideas that all come from Arnold's direct life experience.

He has had the ultimate success in body-building, acting and politics. So it's clear that what he does works.

That's why listening to how he goes about things is inspiring. We can go along for the ride and learn from what he did well and what he messed up.

The book – as the title hints at – is divided up into seven chapters:

Chapter 1: Have a Clear Vision
Chapter 2: Never Think Small
Chapter 3: Work Your Ass Off
Chapter 4: Sell, Sell, Sell (Learn to 'sell', sell yourself, promote what you are doing, etc...)
Chapter 5: Shift Gears (Focus on the positive, learn from your mistakes, then 'get back on your horse'.)
Chapter 6: Shut Your Mouth, Open Your Mind
Chapter 7: Break Your Mirrors (Give back to others, the community. Look beyond yourself. See how you can help others.)

Arnold does a great job narrating his book. Yes, he has a thick accent, so if English isn't your first language, you might find it a little harder to understand than most books. But his language is clear, simple and lucid. It is also conversational, irreverent and funny. He does swear occasionally (something I felt made the book more authentic), so if that kind of thing offends you, this mightn't be the book for you.

All in all, it's an enjoyable read that is full of wise nuggets. So definitely worth 1 credit.