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Wednesday, Oct 14
Format: Hardcover
Description
THE 1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The seven rules to follow to realize your true purpose in life—distilled by Arnold Schwarzenegger from his own journey of ceaseless reinvention and extraordinary achievement, and available for absolutely anyone. The world’s greatest bodybuilder. The world’s highest-paid movie star. The leader of the world’s sixth-largest economy. That these are the same person sounds like the setup to a joke, but this is no joke. This is Arnold Schwarzenegger. And this did not happen by accident. Arnold’s stratospheric success happened as part of a process. As the result of clear vision, big thinking, hard work, direct communication, resilient problem- solving, open-minded curiosity, and a commitment to giving back. All of it guided by the one lesson Arnold’s father hammered into him above all: be useful. As Arnold conquered every realm he entered, he kept his father’s adage close to his heart. Written with his uniquely earnest, blunt, powerful voice, Be Useful takes readers on an inspirational tour through Arnold’s tool kit for a meaningful life. He shows us how to put those tools to work, in service of whatever fulfilling future we can dream up for ourselves. He brings his insights to vivid life with compelling personal stories, life-changing successes and life-threatening failures alike—some of them famous; some told here for the first time ever. Too many of us struggle to disconnect from our self-pity and connect to our purpose. At an early age, Arnold forged the mental tools to build the ladder out of the poverty and narrow-mindedness of his rural Austrian hometown, tools he used to add rung after rung from there. Now he shares that wisdom with all of us. As he puts it, no one is going to come rescue you—you only have yourself. The good news, it turns out, is that you are all you need. Read more
Publisher : Penguin Press
Publication date : October 10, 2023
Language : English
Print length : 288 pages
ISBN-10 : 0593655958
ISBN-13 : 55
Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
Dimensions : 5.75 x 0.97 x 8.6 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #23,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #76 in Success Self-Help #79 in Personal Transformation Self-Help #83 in Memoirs (Books)
#76 in Success Self-Help:
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Top Amazon Reviews
Format: Kindle
Arnold Schwarzenegger is truly one of the most talented individuals of our time. Having reached the absolute pinnacle in sports, entertainment, and politics, he has picked up a great deal of experience and knowledge traveling those diverse paths. This book provides many of the lessons he learned along the way, with guidance for applying them to your own life in not only reaching for but accomplishing your own goals. As the title suggests, the theme binding Schwarzenegger’s seven tools together is recognizing those who have helped you on your own path, and in turn helping others you meet along your way — being useful. For any Arnie fan, liberally sprinkled throughout the book are anecdotes from his own life which make this self-help book a very interesting read. A major bonus of the audiobook is that it is read by Arnold himself, which definitely adds to the value and enjoyment of that version of the book. I highly recommend Seven Tools for being both successful AND useful in YOUR life. I’ll add that if you are interested in Schwarzenegger at all, you absolutely MUST read his autobiography Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story. I originally read this autobiography because I was interested in Schwarzenegger’s movies, but the self-told story of Arnold’s life challenged me, inspired me, and CHANGED MY LIFE. The autobiography concludes with Arnold’s Rules, a collection of 10 life lessons Arnold shares that are extremely interesting and the best part of the entire book. Total Recall made me an Arnie Fan Forever, and I most highly recommend that book to you as well.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2026 by Book Gnome
Format: Hardcover
In the late 1970s when I was an undergrad at the University of Hawaii, my girlfriend and I attended a body building contest in Honolulu that was emceed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. We were in the balcony, and I remember seeing him standing at the lectern where he flexed a bicep and the crowd went wild. Today, I am a retiree in California. I greatly appreciate my mostly positive experiences that I’ve had over the past 40 or so years. I also reflect on those experiences that were not so positive. But like the Terminator, I’m back. And I’m contemplating on what to do (or how to be) during my retirement years. I decided to seek some advice from Mr. S. On one of his Pump Club posts, he advised that people should not rely on motivation but instead create routines and habits. I did this and it works. I decided to read his book to learn more about his life’s lessons from the past 50 years. HAVE A CLEAR VISION (chapter 1) “What I would learn, though, is that some of the strongest visions emerge like this. From our obsessions when we’re young, before our opinions about them have been affected by other people’s judgments of them. . . It’s obviously not that easy, but it is that simple, and it can begin by looking back in time and thinking very broadly about the things you used to love. Your obsessions are a clue to your earliest vision for yourself, if only you had paid attention to them in the beginning.” (pp 7-8) NEVER THINK SMALL (chapter 2) “Let me tell you something: Nothing good has ever come from having a plan B. Nothing important or life-changing, anyway. Plan B is dangerous to every big dream. It is a plan for failure. If plan A is the road less traveled, if it’s you carving your own path toward the vision you’ve created for your life, then plan B is the path of least resistance. And once you know that path is there, once you’ve accepted that it’s an option, it becomes so, so easy to take it whenever things get difficult. F*** plan B! The second you create a backup plan, not only are you giving a voice to all the naysayers, but you are shrinking your own dream by acknowledging the validity of their doubts. Worse, you become your own naysayer. There are enough of them out there already; you don’t need to add to their ranks.” (pp 64-65) WORK YOUR ASS OFF (chapter 3) “First, I created bodybuilding booklets and made a deal with Joe Weider that he didn’t have to pay me for the photo shoots I did for his supplements or his equipment if he gave me a double-page spread in the middle of his magazines to advertise my booklets. Then I started taking classes, mostly in business, at Santa Monica City College and UCLA. To make some extra money, I led weight-lifting seminars, and Franco and I went into the masonry business and did bricklaying work all around the city. With my bricklaying and booklet money, I bought an apartment building and became a landlord. And when I finally began to make the move toward Hollywood more concretely, that’s when I started to take all those acting and improv classes I talked about earlier. My dance card was full . . . including with dance classes!” (p 102) SELL, SELL, SELL (chapter 4) “When entrepreneurs and athletes and artists ask me for advice nowadays – it doesn’t matter if they’re talking about their newest product, their latest piece, or how to get representation – the one thing I tell them that they should be doing more of is promoting. Communicating. Selling. Sell, sell, sell! You can have the most amazing, the most fantastic plan, the best in class of virtually anything, but if nobody knows that it exists or knows what it is, then it’s a waste of time and effort. It might as well not exist at all. . . No matter the size of your dream, you have to know how to sell it and who to sell it to.” (pp 118-119) SHIFT GEARS (chapter 5) “Only fairly recently have social scientists really understood why we seem to respond to negative things more strongly than we do to positive things. . . There’s a name for this phenomenon: it’s called “negativity bias,” and scientists tell us that it’s probably a kind of survival mechanism. . . It makes a lot of sense when you think about it, but I’ll be honest with you: I have no use for any of it in my life. To me, focusing on all that negativity is a waste of time, because I don’t just want to survive, I want to thrive, and I want you to thrive too. That’s why I believe we all have to get better at embracing our circumstances and shifting our perspective toward finding the positive in whatever situation we find ourselves in.” (pp 158-159) SHUT YOUR MOUTH, OPEN YOUR MIND (chapter 6) “Being curious and being a good listener are a big part of how to effectively utilize your relationships with other people in pursuit of your goals. I don’t mean that in a manipulative way, only practically. When it comes down to it, people are resources. But it’s only when you learn to soak up what those people tell you – not just let it go in one ear, out the other – that you truly begin to make yourself useful to others and become a resource yourself.” (p 210) BREAK YOUR MIRRORS (chapter 7) “None of us has ever done anything on our own when you really think about it. We have always had help or guidance. Others have paved or pointed the way for us in some form or another, whether we were aware of it beforehand or not. And now that you know this, it’s important for you to recognize that you have a responsibility to give back. To help others. To send the ladder back down and lift the next group up. To pay it forward. To be useful.” (p 231) There is much to glean from this book. At times, it brought a nod from my head, a smile on my face, or a tear to my eye. Thank you, Mr. S.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2026 by Steven Yoshida BS PhD JD
Format: Kindle
From the moment I turned the first page of I felt as though I was embarking on a journey both profound and intimately personal. This book is more than a mere memoir or a guide to success; it is a testament to the relentless human spirit, a spirit that Arnold embodies and that has profoundly impacted my life. Growing up, I often found myself lost in a sea of uncertainty, grappling with the confines of my circumstances much like Arnold did in his rural Austrian hometown. His story, narrated in a voice so earnest and powerful, resonated with me on a deeply emotional level. It was as if his words were a guiding light through my own struggles, illuminating a path I hadn't known existed. Arnold’s seven rules, distilled from his extraordinary journey of ceaseless reinvention and achievement, are not just principles for success but are lifelines for anyone seeking purpose. His lessons, born from a blend of hard work, resilience, and a steadfast commitment to being useful, struck a chord within me. The book lays bare his life's successes and failures, some famously known and others shared for the first time, creating a tapestry of experiences that are both inspiring and deeply human. One of the most moving aspects of Arnold's narrative is his insistence on self-reliance. His belief that "you are all you need" is a powerful call to action, one that encouraged me to look within and muster the courage to climb my own ladder out of self-pity and towards a life of purpose. His story is a poignant reminder that our greatest challenges often forge our most invaluable tools. As I journeyed through the pages of "Be Useful," I laughed, I cried, and most importantly, I learned. Arnold's life story, while unique in its grandeur, felt universally applicable, encouraging me to dream big and work tirelessly towards those dreams. His father's simple yet profound adage, "be useful," became a mantra in my own life, guiding me to strive not just for personal success but for a life of meaningful contribution. In conclusion, this book is a life-changing experience. It is a story of hope, resilience, and the unyielding power of the human spirit. Arnold Schwarzenegger's journey, so beautifully narrated, is a source of inspiration that has profoundly changed my life. It's a reminder that no matter where we come from, we have the power to shape our destiny. Thank you Arnold and as I fail I will always learn and tell myself, "I'll be back".
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Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2023 by Kurtis Conrad
Format: Hardcover
I appreciate the intent of this book, it's equal parts his autobiography and what he learned along the way. The intent to share and offer helpful advice is real. It's just not groundbreaking, we've heard all these things before. I know, I know, you have to DO what he recommends for it to be effective. Set a vision, work hard, be positive and give back. That's it! The magic formula to unlock limitless success in life. Luck and genetics play large factors too, whether you like it or not. This was an incredibly easy read with thick pages, generous spacing and large font, lol. Again, his intent is good, likely, and I appreciate the man he esteems he is and was as he did accomplish a lot. I could nitpick his specific movies or quality as a writer, but I won't. He did and achieved a lot, I wish this book inspired me more or gave me something special I hadn't heard before, but it is what it is. It's a lot of "look I can do it, you can too!" I hoped for more examples about being useful in general despite being a catchy tag line.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2024 by The Exacting Consumer
Format: Kindle
A surprising work that shows greater depth of character than I had realized. He has had a great variety of insights.
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2026 by Donor
Format: Hardcover
Let me tell you... it is fantastic. It's a very easy and enjoyable read for anyone stuck in life without a "vision." My Austrian grandmother was one tough woman who worked her a** off to make a living in America. When I was a kid, she gave me advice her father passed on to her: "Take your hands out of your pockets and use them." Arnold has similar values instilled in him by his own father who often reminded him to 'Be Useful' to his community. This book is a simple, practical guide with straight forward advice by someone who has lived it, and who has succeeded in various ventures. I also looked up to Arnold as a kid. My father wasn't present to be the strong male figure I needed, so Arnold's movies from Commando and Predator to Jingle All the Way served as a means of inspiration and guidance (awesome, right?). Now, the inspiration comes full circle. I am grateful he wrote this book. His service through sport, the film industry, and government all culminate to this point in life where he shares a bit of his wisdom. I'm taking the advice and tools written here seriously so that I may finally follow through with my own vision. At the very least, it's a blueprint to be a more positive, better person in a world that so desperately needs it. Do yourself, and the world, a favor and get it. Take notes, earmark pages, highlight, reread, and apply these tools! Thank you Arnold! ***Please note*** The only bad reviews given here are the ones who didn't get a signed copy of the book, or the kindle version issues which often happen on Amazon. This does not reflect the ACTUAL CONTENT of the book. There's also some lady (Austinana) who thinks she must lead a flawless life. She's a perfectly cooked wiener schnitzel who has never made mistakes and has to take down other people who have. "Schadenfreude" to her, which means, I'm laughing at her misery. But let's wish her the best because maybe some day she will read this book and turn things around. Prost friends!
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Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2023 by Uncle Tony
Format: Hardcover
I LOVED this book! I’ve always been a huge fan of Arnolds’s to begin with and enjoyed reading his autobiography, so I was really looking forward to reading this one. I had respect for him before this, but after reading this book, I have that much more respect and admiration for him. His book is very motivational, but he also writes about his personal experiences before he came to America, the process of getting here, and his life after getting here to pursue the American dream. Arnold is a real go-getter and an extremely hard worker. I wish I had even an ounce of his energy. He knew and knows what he wants and he works hard to get it. He’s a total believer in visualizing what he wants, but he also does the work to see those dreams come true, and he stresses that the latter is just as important as the dreaming. Arnold is a very positive and optimistic person, but he hasn’t been without his struggles. He talks about them, what he did to work through them, and what he learned from them. He really cares about people, and his life has been about how he can serve others and what he can do to help people. He puts his money where his mouth is and has been fortunate in that he could pay for many of his endeavors himself. Arnold wrote about his experiences as governor, as well. He really tried to work across the aisle and had both Democrats and republicans in his administration. He worked hard to try to do what was best for the people of California. (I know there are those who didn’t agree with some of the things he did, mostly because of party differences, but what you can’t say is that he didn’t work hard to find solutions and to get the job done.) Arnold is a great example of what is possible for everyone who dreams and works hard enough towards those dreams. But I would like to add that it may be possible, but not always probable depending on someone’s circumstances. Some can overcome the most horrific experiences and succeed, and yet there are many whose experiences completely devastated them and they gave up hope. Reading this book made me feel really encouraged to keep trying. To keep working towards those dreams. And if I can’t, I can still serve people by committing small acts of kindness wherever and whenever I can. We all don’t have to do and be big. We all have a different purpose. Therefore, no one reading this book should feel discouraged or like they don’t matter just because they can’t do what Arnold did. We can take baby steps and just do what we can when we can. I would highly recommend reading. It was well worth it, and I’ll probably read again and again.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2023 by Karen L.
Format: Hardcover
I absolutely loved every page of this book. So much so, I bought a copy for my son and I'm going to drop it off to him myself, in-person, in another state. Why did you like this specific book? Why is it so important? The way Arnold articulated his messages and organized the book was derived from his own life but with both truth and respect for the reader. He establishes his premises based on his life experiences and does site other people that have used the same or similar strategies to get things done. This entire book was funny, thoughtful, candid and 100% interested in helping the reader build out their lives and goals better. Does Arnold Schwarzenegger have the right to be arrogant? Maybe. Is he at all in this book? Nope. He is honest. And he is also very moving with his stories, especially growing up in Austria. But most importantly, this book does have the power to inspire and change the trajectory of a life or two. And it dismisses any bullshit excuses individuals have created for themselves to be less than what their goals and ideals tell them they should be. It's a great read with better advice and diection than I could give or would have. Also, not every idea needs to be adhered to. Even a few of Arnold's frameworks will help move a person forward. One last thing. This isn't a get rich quick book. If that's what you want, this is not the right book. This book is about looking at your raw building blocks that are already in you and making a mountain out of them. I already liked Arnold because of his attitude and his public persona. He just gave everyone his roadmap of how he did it and challenged us to make it our own. Absolutely fantastic.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2024 by M. Kuffler