696 Be Useful — Arnold Schwarzenegger on 7 Tools for Life, Thinking Big, Building Resilience, Processing Grief, and More

This is a Claude AI summary of the Tim Ferriss Podcast #696- visit www.TinyTim.blog for more AI summaries, or www.Tim.blog for the official Tim Ferriss Podcasts.

Here is a long form summary of the key points from the podcast conversation between Tim Ferriss and Arnold Schwarzenegger:

- Arnold recently had heart surgery to replace a heart valve. The recovery involved a lot of walking to exercise his lungs and prevent pneumonia. He set goals each day to go farther, like walking around the nurses' station then down long hallways.

- His difficult childhood with an abusive father made his brother weaker but made Arnold stronger. Each punishment motivated Arnold more to succeed and leave home. He found new father figures like his trainer.

- The book title "Be Useful" comes from Arnold's father who believed in serving your community. Arnold studied sales early on and later sold his films aggressively when other actors didn't.

- On "Never Think Small," Arnold set big goals like competing for Mr. Europe as a teenager. He envisioned being a top movie star like Clint Eastwood. He created his own path rather than waiting for opportunities.

- For the film Twins, Arnold negotiated a deal for no upfront salary. He, Danny DeVito and Ivan Reitman took a percentage of profits instead so the studio bore little risk. The film was hugely successful.

- On shifting gears, Arnold had to move from suppressing emotions as an athlete to accessing them as an actor. He couldn't get stuck in one track.

- Dealing with aging means accepting new pains and vulnerabilities while working to stay active and healthy. But limitations eventually come for everyone regardless of fame or money.

- Arnold still lives for the future with big goals in movies, fitness, policy and more. He wants to motivate people to pursue their dreams in his new book.

In summary, Arnold spoke about recovering from surgery, lessons from his tough upbringing, negotiating film deals, the need to shift gears in life, accepting aging limitations and staying useful for the future.

https://tim.blog/2023/10/02/arnold-schwarzenegger-be-useful/