An Impossible Goal
IllustrationStory★★★★Motivational speaker Steve Chandler was a sportswriter in 1976 when he interviewed a retired bodybuilder and aspiring actor named Arnold Schwarzenegger. Chandler recalls asking, “What are you going to do next?” And with a calm voice, Schwarzenegger replied, “I’m going to be the No. 1 box-office star in all of Hollywood.”
I tried not to show my amusement. His first attempt at movies hadn’t promised much, and his Austrian accent and monstrous build didn’t suggest instant acceptance by audiences. “It’s the same process I used in bodybuilding,” Schwarzenegger went on to explain. “What you do is create a vision of who you want to be, and then live into the picture, as if it were already true.”
It sounded ridiculously simple. But I wrote it down and never forgot it.
Steve Chandler, 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself.
The point
Schwarzenegger told a reporter in 1976 that he would become Hollywood's top star by creating a vision and living as if it were already true. His bodybuilding success came from this same principle.