Episode 060 Arnold Schwarzenegger

Summary

• Arnold Schwarzenegger was asked how he should be addressed and he said Arnold was fine.
• He once sent a sculpture of bull testicles to a legislative leader with a note saying they both needed them for the budget negotiations.
• He grew up in a small village in Austria with a splash toilet and no running water.
• He believes his confidence came from having a clear vision of where he wanted to go and why he was pushing himself.
• He went to his first major bodybuilding competition in Stuttgart while in the military and had a clear vision of winning.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger traveled to Stuttgart, Germany to compete in the Mr. Europe Junior competition
• He used psychological warfare to intimidate his competitors
• He developed this technique through his experience as a trainer and working with people in the gym
• He used this technique in bodybuilding competitions and in his career in show business
• He was determined to carve out a niche for himself in the movie business, despite naysayers telling him it was impossible
• Arnold Schwarzenegger had a clear vision that someone would appreciate his bodybuilding and acting skills, and this was realized when he was cast in Stay Hungry and Pumping Iron.
• He became a millionaire in real estate before his career in show business took off.
• He and Franco Columbu started a mail order business to make money, and they used European names to capitalize on the trend of European products being popular in America.
• His career took off after Conan the Barbarian was released in 1982, and he was able to make $20M by the end of the decade.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbu have been friends since they met at the Mr. Europe Junior competition in the 1960s.
• Arnold helped Franco with bodybuilding and Franco helped Arnold with powerlifting.
• Arnold convinced Joe Weider to give Franco an airline ticket to California in 1969.
• Franco won every championship after that, including Mr. Universe, Mr. World, and eventually Mr. Olympia after Arnold retired.
• Arnold and Franco still speak German together, sometimes mixing it with English.
• Arnold has taken accent reduction classes, but the objective was not to get rid of the accent.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ivan Reitman developed the idea for the movie Twins, which was originally called The Experiment.
• They agreed to make the movie for free and receive a large backend, which was accepted by Tom Pollack at Universal Studios.
• Twins was a huge success, making $129M domestically and $269M worldwide.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger prefers to keep his acting and investing separate, but would invest in a project he is passionate about, such as Brooklyn Castle.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger is passionate about after school programs because he had the benefit of 24/7 attention and discipline growing up and wants to give other kids the same opportunity.
• He started after school programs in Los Angeles and they have since spread to 1314 cities in the US, including Hawaii.
• He passed an initiative in California in 2002, the After School Education and Safety Act, which provides $500M for after school programs in California.
• Arnold believes that after school programs are beneficial because they keep kids out of trouble and save the community money.
• Arnold believes successful people include Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Elon Musk, Nelson Mandela, and Mikhail Gorbachev.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger was inspired by Muhammad Ali and Cincinnatus, a Roman Emperor, as examples of success.
• Cincinnatus was asked to step into power and become the Emperor to help Rome, which he did twice.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger has difficulty letting go of power and admires Cincinnatus for his ability to do so.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger's favorite books to give as gifts are Winston Churchill by Boris Johnson, Free to Choose by Milton Friedman, and California by Kevin Starr.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger used Transcendental Meditation to help him manage his anxieties and pressures.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger learned Transcendental Meditation and found it to be a great way to reduce anxiety and pressure.
• He also found that intense concentration on a task for 45 minutes to an hour followed by a break was a form of meditation.
• Working out can also be a form of meditation as it requires intense concentration on the muscles.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger has started the USC Schwarzenegger Institute to focus on political reform, stem cell research, economic growth, education, and environmental issues.
• He has also started the R20 organization to encourage subnational governments to set their own goals for environmental reform.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger is currently fundraising for after school programs through omaze.com/arnold.