For almost six decades, Arnold Schwarzenegger has been a tour de force. From being a world-renowned bodybuilder to starring in some of the best action movies, and even serving as the governor of California from 2003 to 2011, he seems to have done it all. Shockingly though, the 76-year-old Terminator actor recently revealed that when it comes to his victories, he’s not the best at giving himself the credit he should, and he also shared some other valuable pensive thoughts that are worth keeping in your back pocket.
In his daily newsletter on Arnold’s Pump Club, the seven-time Mr. Olympia winner offered his usual tidbits, hoping to demystify the challenges around diets and fitness, and he also included a Q&A that was nothing less than honest and motivational. The first question started off strong: “Was there a book that influenced you in a positive way (career or personal life?)” And I was not expecting Schwarzenegger’s excellent Roman Empire-related answer at all. He wrote:
I love Marcus Aurelius. It was something my first mentor exposed me to when he told us to train our minds as much as our bodies, and something Daniel got me as a gift when we were working on our book.
With Schwarzenegger’s work ethic and positive attitude, this makes complete sense as to why he would connect so much with the Roman Emperor. Marcus Aurelius has been penned as the last of the Five Good Emperors of Rome. Experts have spoken highly about his ruling history and how much the Roman people loved him because of his dignity and respectful character. I’m not trying to turn this into a history lesson, but I’m definitely interested to see if he speaks more on the topic in future newsletters.
The second question, which happened to come from the same user who asked the first, was: “If you achieve a goal or accomplishment how do you celebrate it?” While it sounds simple enough to answer, it’s obvious that the Kindergarten Cop star really took his time to look inward and give the best answer that would provide the most value for his readers. And his mentor-like, fatherly response didn’t disappoint. As he put it:
I will be honest. I'm shitty at celebrating. I'm so bad at slowing down and enjoying a victory --I'm just moving forward to the next thing. I think that's why I push celebrating on all of you so much. I get fuel from what's ahead of me, but I also realize that might not be normal, so I want everyone else to celebrate because recognizing those wins helps you stay committed.
I’m obsessed with this honest and healthy take. It’s something we can all relate to, and it shows that everyone – no matter how successful – has their own battles. Besides this, he also provided other golden nuggets like not thinking of success as a linear journey, and learning faster by “struggling and screwing up.” If you want the entire lowdown, be sure to read the well-loved newsletter in its entirety on his site.
Even if Schwarzenegger says he’s not great at celebrating his wins, he’s done so much recently that’s more than impressive. Despite not having anything coming up on the 2024 movie schedule, he reunited with his Twins co-star, Danny Devito, at the 2024 Oscars and hilariously dropped all the Batman jokes. He’s also supposed to star with Reacher actor Alan Ritchson in an upcoming holiday heist comedy, but we don’t know the specifics of that one yet (Jingle All the Way gone even badder, perhaps?).
Along with everything else he has up his sleeve, we hope he takes what he's learned from Marcus Aurelius and some time to give himself the kudos he’s earned.
