Be Useful | Notion

“This book is called Be Useful because that is the best piece of advice my father ever gave me. It has stuck in my brain and never left, and my hope is that the advice I am offering you in the pages to follow will do the same thing. Being useful was also the motivating force behind all my decisions, and the organizing force around the tools I used to make them. Being a bodybuilding champion, being a millionaire leading man, being a public servant - those were my goals, but they were not what motivated me. For a number of years, my father didn't agree with my version of what it means to be useful, and I might not agree with your version, when it comes down to it. But that is not the purpose of good advice. It's not to tell you what to build, it's to show you how to build and why it matters. My father passed away at the same age I was when I brought my world crashing down on me. I never had the chance to ask him what I should do, but I have a good idea what he would tell me: "Be useful, Arnold." - intro

Have a Clear Vision

“Everything good, all great change, starts with a clear vision. Vision is the most important thing. Vision is purpose and meaning. To have a clear vision is to have a picture of what you want your life to look like and a plan for how to get there.” → for Arnold, it started with a bold vision of America, as he was living in Austria and had dreams to move here and make it big eventually
His first inspiration was the bodybuilder Reg Park, who like him, grew up as a poor kid in a working town of England and then trained to become Mr. Universe, and later transitioned to acting as Hercules - now he had his path to America!
“When I fell in love with bodybuilding, I didn't have vague hopes of becoming a champion. I had a very specific vision of it, borrowed from the pictures inside muscle magazines of guys like Reg Park celebrating their victories. I could see myself on the top step of the podium holding the winner's trophy. I could see the other competitors on the lower steps looking up at me enviously, but also in awe. I could see their tight smiles, I could even see the colors of their posing briefs. I could see the judges standing and applauding. I could see the crowd going wild and chanting my name. "Arnold! Arnold! Arnold!" This wasn't a fantasy. This was a memory that just hadn't happened yet. That's what it felt like to me.” (Visualization helped Michael Phelps, Goggins, McConaughey)
His advice is to think about what obsessions you had as a kid, like Tiger Woods with golf or Steven Spielberg with film, then zoom in on the specific vision you can achieve
Reflect while moving your body to spark ideas: “Ancient Greek philosophers like Aristotle would lecture their students while taking long walks with them, often working out their ideas at the same time. Two thousand years later, the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche would say, "It is only ideas gained from walking that have any worth." Einstein refined many of his theories about the universe while walking around the Princeton University campus. The writer Henry David Thoreau would say, "The moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow."
“If you are stuck, if you are struggling to figure out a clear vision for the life you want, then all I care about is that you make little goals for yourself to start building momentum and that you create time and space every day to think, to day-dream, to look around, to be present in the world, to let inspiration and ideas in. If you can't find what you're looking for, at least give it a chance to find you.” - evaluate decisions through the lens of is this getting me closer or further from my vision
He rejected a $200k role in the 70s as a fitness influencer, even though that’s like 4x what any bodybuilder was getting paid, because it wasn’t in line with his vision of pursuing movies next
Similar to Goggins, Arnold uses the accountability approach of looking in the mirror daily and asking if this is the life you want - also helps to have an accountability partner

Never Think Small

By the end of 1987, Arnold had become the biggest action star in the world, but while his friends and family thought he’d reached his peak, he knew it was only the beginning - he wanted to prove his worth by doing comedy movies!
Most studio execs didn’t think he could ever star in comedy, so they didn’t want to pick up the movie Twins, but he bet on himself, a la George Lucas, by taking no upfront salary and just negotiating a profit split based on how well the movie does (turned out to be the most he ever made on a movie!)
He learned the think big lesson from James Cameron: “where Jim really stands head and shoulders above the rest of us is his ability to go all in on his projects. He's done it time and again. In German, we have a saying; Wenn schon, denn schon. Roughly translated, it means “If you're going to do something, DO IT. Go all out." Jim is the embodiment of that saying. He has always been that way, as long as I have known him.” (James Cameron spent $200m on the Titanic caring about tiny details like stamping the White Star Line logo on teacups but he knew that’s what makes the story so authentic)
Blackstone Schwartzmann’s advice is go big because it takes the same amount of time to do something big as something small - “Why aim for the middle? Why settle for "good enough" before you've even done the work to see what you are capable of? What do you have to lose? It's not like dreaming up a big vision takes more energy than dreaming up a small one. Try it. Grab a piece of paper and a pencil. Write down your vision. Now cross that out and write it again, only bigger. See, the same amount of energy.”
Ogilvy don’t bunt, aim for out of the park quote
“Watching someone with a crazy goal give it everything they've got and then succeed is so powerful. It's like magic, because it unlocks potential we didn't even know we had. It shows us what is possible if we put our mind to something and then back that up with effort. If Reg Park, a kid from a small factory town in England, can become Mr. Universe and then a movie star, why couldn't I?” → find the right role models to remove your limiting beliefs