Book Review 23 (2024) - 4/5 - 'Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life', Arnold Schwarzenegger - Non-Fiction - Biography/Self-Enrichment

The bodybuilder, turned property investor, turned actor, turned politician reinvents himself now as a personal development author with a guide that is surprisingly useful.

Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to tell you and let you know that you're lazy and pathetic. But, he's going to do it in such a way that's polite, with candour and a few pointers along the way. He's going to be jovial and non-judgy about the whole thing. Or perhaps a little bit judgy. But only because he doesn't want you to feel lazy and pathetic anymore. He instead wants you to dust yourself off and 'Be Useful'.

If this sounds like something your old teacher, lecturer of parent used to tell you, you'd be on the money, as it's exactly what Schwarzenegger's policeman disciplinarian father used to tell him everyday. Having been an award-winning bodybuilder, world famous actor, surprise governator, he's now reached the 4th act; a self-enrichment author.

Having read his previous book/biography Total Recall, I didn't know what to expect initially as I'm cognisant his later political and personal life has been fraught with controversy so I assumed it the book would pick up from where the last left off and address the elephants in the room as it were. Instead, it analyses his whole life through the lens of his 7 tools.

Let's dive into them.

The 1st Tool in his arsenal is 'Find your Vision'. The author believes that having a clear vision of what you want to achieve in your life is an essential building block of success. While not a new concept, as Jim Rohn and his predecessors would use the example of asking if you had written goals, and if you didn't would be able to predict your bank account down to the digit. Whereas Arnold takes it further is he encourages readers to take the time to identify their own goals, write them down continuously, so they can keep on referring to them. Something I still do to this day; write goals morning and night, you never know what may come up.

The 2nd Tool is 'Think Big'. Schwarzenegger encourages the reader to, wait for it, Think Big and to believe that the sky is the limit and anything is possible. He reminds us mere mortals that he too came from a tiny village in Austria and had idols and dreams to make it big. He extolls the virtues of working hard towards your big vision to achieve it and allowing anything to be possible.

The 3rd Tool is 'Overcome Your Limitations'. Schwarzenegger believes that everyone has limitations, but it's important to recognise them quickly, work to overcome them by breaking through the barriers (Many of which believes to be mental) in order to achieve your goals and attain success. He goes through his real life experiences and encourages readers to follow their own path.

The 4th Tool is 'Take Action'. Arnold believes that by taking action, just starting if you well, is one of the main reasons behind one's success. Like James Clear's Atomic Habits and Tony Robbins UPW rhetoric, he encourages the reader to take small, incremental steps towards their goals daily, and be consistent and persistent with their efforts.

The 5th Tool is 'Learn from Failure'. Failure, our author admits, is an important part of the human condition and the learning process. He encourages us all to embrace failure and use it as a springboard to grow and learn. It reminded me of the late great Wayne Dyer's old saying "Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn".

The 6th Tool is 'Build a Support System'. Schwarzenegger believes that having a healthy and strong support system in place is essential to growth and success. He encourages the reader to surround yourself with supportive, positive people who may be at another level to you to continue to foster your ongoing encouragement and motivation. Similar to Jim Rohn's old adage "you are the product of the 5 people you spend the most time with." I've found this to be true.

The 7th and final Tool is 'Give Back'. Not surprising, given many celebrities and person's of influence encourage the same philanthropic aspiration whether it's genuine or for appearacnes, one can never tell. Nonetheless, our author believes that giving back is an important part of a fulfilling life. He encourages readers to find ways to help others and give back to the community.

Self-enrichment or the Self-Help genre can be a dubious scene to be part of. The recent allegations that Jay Shetty the self-titled Monk fabricated his whole past to be able to charge money for his books and life-coaching courses supports the theory that the whole industry is a Ponzi scheme for dream journaling.

But our author, far from the T-800 cyborg killing machine he's known for from his breakout role is, in fact, a rather amiable instructor. There's a lot of advice similar to 80's and 90's classics in the genre and the usual Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela citations. There's humour too to dull the edges of the Tools themselves. He talks about "Putting the work in during drama training" however, won't fight to get his money back from the accent-removal classes. There are also #Humble moments where he confides he hates the phrase "Self-Made" as he recognises it's meant as a compliment but it completely denounces all those who paved the way for one's success RE mentors and teachers (In Arnold's case, Thal in Austria and then a man called Fredi Gerstl).

There is, of course, a well founded concern with books like these: will they shine a light and at least acknowledge the discriminatory nature of social hierarchical institutions and structures, one's own pre-disposed financial, economic and health issues or any other inhibiters or impediments to fulfilling their potential. While Schwarzenegger does point towards these occasionally, his argument is, if a boy from a no-name town in Austria with emotionally absent parents, no running water and seemingly no prospects can make it, then anyone can.

As someone who's consumed the genre for many years, since my own mother got me onto Tony Robbins in primary school, it's quite rare to find something that piques my interest that's not too derivative or makes one roll their eyes, and this one certainly doesn't. I will note that whoever was in charge of writing the jacket blurb to this one needs to be dressed down, as it takes an aggressive finger pointing tone which is not replicated within the variable tone within the book, while dogmatic at times often shows a kind, pragmatic enthusiasm of it's author.

Happy reading everyone!

I'll Be Back!

CPH