Be Useful: How Arnold Schwarzenegger's Seven Tools for Life Changed My Career (Part 1 of 3)

Those who know me on any level know that I am a gigantic mega-nerd for 80s action flicks. Die Hard, Rambo, Rocky, or Terminator re-watches with the company of my lovely wife and loyal dog often fill my Sunday afternoons. That's why I picked up Arnold Schwarzenegger's new book on October 10, the day of its release. By no means am I a voracious reader of self-help books, but how often does The Terminator himself release a book?

I devoured the book over the course of a week, allowing for a full evening of meditating on the practical applications of each individual chapter before moving onto the next. Unsurprisingly, one of the greatest bodybuilders, leading men, and politicians of all time had some great insights. The book has inspired me to assess my own goals, especially in my career, and to pursue each one until I can look back and realize with pride that I have landed exactly where I dreamed. In this three part series, I will be examining how implementing each of Arnold's tools has improved my career.

Have a Clear Vision

We cannot do great work unless we have a purpose for working. In a 1981 article , George T. Doran succinctly laid out five standards by which we can set effective goals. These standards, called SMART for short (Specific, Measurable, Assignable/achievable, Realistic, and Timely), were critical for Arnold over a decade before Doran's article was ever written. There is a strong case to be made that many great people throughout history have realized their memorable achievements simply by having clear goals.

In light of this chapter, I asked myself three questions about my career. First, what am I doing right now? Second, what do I want to be doing in the future and why? And last, is what I'm doing useful to my ultimate vision, and how can I make it work for my advantage?

I work as a paralegal, primarily handling litigation cases and misdemeanor criminal matters. After some reflection, I realized that I want to work towards a career where I can help people immigrate to the United States. Helping others to realize their dreams, to reunite with their families, and to establish several different types of personal security is all very appealing to me, and that is where I see a need in the world.

Once I realized this goal, it opened up numerous short and long-term possibilities for improving myself and my current work environment. I realized that every new civil dispute is an opportunity to perfect my knowledge of civil procedure, how to organize my work space, and how to create efficiency in the way that I work. In the distant future, I can see myself attending law school if that is the way I can help the most people.

Setting clear goals and encouraging ourselves to push towards them every working day makes for very few days of feeling idle. When you know you're working for a greater good, the 9-5 becomes less of a grind and more of an opportunity.

Never Think Small

I find it amusing that Arnold wanted his full name on the marquees at movie theaters, that he wanted to make bodybuilding a "cool" sport, and that he decided to become Governor before he had run for his local school board or mayorship. I find it even more amusing that he actually did each of these unlikely things.

When we set goals they have to be big in the grand scheme of things. Small goals are nice, and it feels good to achieve them for a while. If we decide we are going to show up 15 minutes early every day for work for a whole week, it feels great once you achieve that. But if we have a larger, more overwhelming goal looming over that, we have the option for more flexibility, but we will also likely get more work done.

Let's use my personal vision as an example. The office gets pretty busy around the holidays, and all of our paralegals have an increased workload. Often times, you will find some of us in the office until 6:00, long after the sun has set. But because my large, looming goal is to work as an immigration paralegal or an immigration lawyer, I need to get home a little bit earlier so that I can go to the gym (one of my uncompromisable daily activities) and study Spanish. So, in pursuit of my career in immigration, I show up to the office early every day. Perhaps I shorten my lunches by fifteen minutes. I spend less time chatting at the water cooler, and instead focus all of my mental energy for that day into doing the things that will make me a better paralegal. I go above and beyond when I draft documents. When I put together discovery responses, I do as much as I can to make the documents look professional. I ask my supervising attorney what I can do to lighten his workload.

Suddenly, I'm not just aimlessly showing up to work fifteen minutes early, scrolling my phone until the workday starts. I start every workday with a clear vision, which doesn't mean that I just show up earlier. What good is showing up early if you aren't getting things done? I find that defining my goals also benefits my work performance and eliminates any toxicity from the environment around me. The best part? It all feels fun!

Knowing that each choice I make during the day has an impact on something that seems overwhelming at first gives me a purpose.

So tonight, ask yourself, "What is my next big goal, and how am I going to achieve it?"