Arnold Schwarzenegger — On Psychological Warfare

1. 0:00 – 4:37

   Start

   1. TFTim Ferriss0:00

      Optimal minimal At this altitude, I can run flat-out for a half mile before my hands start shaking.

   2. ASArnold Schwarzenegger0:06

      Can I ask you a personal question?

   3. TFTim Ferriss0:08

      Now would seem an appropriate time. What if I did the opposite?

   4. ASArnold Schwarzenegger0:12

      I'm a cybernetic organism, living tissue over a metal endoskeleton.

   5. TFTim Ferriss0:16

      The Tim Ferriss Show. The Tim Ferriss Show is brought to you by ONNIT. I have used ONNIT products for years. If you look in my kitchen, in my garage, you will find Alpha Brain, chewable melatonin for resetting my clock when I'm traveling, kettlebells, battle ropes, maces, steel clubs. Sounds like a torture chamber, and it kind of is. It's a torture chamber for self-improvement [laughs] . And you can see all of my favorite gear at onnit.com/tim. That's O-N-N-I-T.com/tim, and you can also get a discount on any supplements, food products. I like Hemp Force. I like Alpha Brain. Check it all out, onnit.com/tim. The Tim Ferriss Show is also brought to you by 99designs. 99designs is your one-stop shop for anything graphic design related. You need a logo, you need a website, you need a business card or anything else, you get an original design from designers around the world who submit drafts for you to review. You are happy or you get your money back. And I have used 99designs for book cover ideas for The 4-Hour Body, which went to number one New York Times, for banner ads, and you can check out some of my actual competitions at 99designs.com/tim. You can also get a free $99 upgrade if you wanna give it a shot. That's 99designs.com/tim. [upbeat music] Hello, ladies and germs. This is Tim Ferriss, and welcome to a very special episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, where each episode, I attempt to deconstruct world-class performers to find what makes them tick, the tools and tricks that you can use in your daily life, ranging from professional athletes, to chess prodigies, to billionaire investors, to, in this episode, that's right, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the man himself, the Governator, the Terminator, the man who killed the goddamn Predator, people. This was an amazing experience for me. Of course, there are many things that I associate with my upbringing, if you wanna call it that, in the '80s, Guns N' Roses, but of course, there's Commando, there's Predator. The list goes on and on. This man is a force of nature, and I had the opportunity, the rare opportunity, to visit him at his home in Southern California. At the kitchen table, we dug into everything, and I really wanted to dig into areas that had not been explored widely in any other interviews that I could find, and that ranges from the art of psychological warfare. He is a master. How did he apply that? What phrases did he use, questions did he use to get inside the heads of his opponents? We cover that. What was his most lucrative movie? I'll give you a hint. Twins. How the hell did that happen? Well, there's a lot that goes into the backstory of that. How did he make millions of dollars fresh off the boat before his acting career took off? A lot of people don't realize he was a millionaire before his acting career took off. How did that happen? We dig into it. How did Arnold use meditation for one year, and just one year, to completely reset his brain and prime the stage for massive success? And of course, mailing cow balls to politicians, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. This was an amazing episode. I want to let you get right into it. The show notes, links, all that good stuff will be found at 4HourWorkweek, all spelled out, 4HourWorkweek.com. Click on Podcast, or you can just go to 4HourWorkweek.com/arnold. And without further ado, please enjoy a wild romp through the life of Arnold Schwarzenegger. [upbeat music] Kind sir, I wanted to start with a thank you for welcoming me to your house, number one, but number two, I've felt awkward all morning because I don't know how I should address you, and I wanted to ask you how I should address you.

   6. ASArnold Schwarzenegger4:18

      Well, you can address me any way you want. You can call me Governator, Governor, Schnitzel, Arnold.

   7. TFTim Ferriss4:26

      [laughs] Okay.

   8. ASArnold Schwarzenegger4:28

      But I think Arnold will, will, will be, will be right.

   9. TFTim Ferriss4:30

      I'll go with Arnold.

   10. ASArnold Schwarzenegger4:31

       Yeah.

   11. TFTim Ferriss4:31

       It's, it's... I felt like my first year in Japan when I was 15 because I didn't know how to address anybody. Uh,

2. 4:37 – 7:30

   Mailing bull testicles

   1. TFTim Ferriss4:37

      so I figured we could start with, uh, a favorite topic. Well, it's become a favorite topic as I've been thinking about this, which is big balls, and cow balls [laughs] , and bull testicles. So you've mailed, uh, sculptures of bull testicles to people before. Is that right?

   2. ASArnold Schwarzenegger4:58

      Well, there was one incident, uh, in, uh, particular. That was when I was governor, [clears throat] and there was, uh, you know, one of the, the leaders, legislative leaders, Darrell Steinberg, uh, and I, we both had a huge challenge. Uh, California was hit by an enormous, uh, you know, economic decline. There was a worldwide recession that was hitting us in 2008, and everyone kind of was caught by surprise of what effect it had, that all of a sudden we had $20 billion less in revenues, therefore we had to make big cuts in education and in various different areas that really hit the vulnerable citizens, um, of California. And so when we did the budget, I basically sent him up, before we negotiated, you know, a set of balls.

   3. TFTim Ferriss5:52

      [laughs]

   4. ASArnold Schwarzenegger5:54

      And, uh, you know, kind of just with a note that say, "I hope you have that when we negotiate the budget because that's what we both need, that what we all in this building need, uh, in order to get this budget done because it's not gonna be a pretty budget because people will hate it. They will hate us, you know, they'd be making those cuts, but that's all the money we have." And so he didn't take it lightly.

   5. TFTim Ferriss6:15

      [laughs]

   6. ASArnold Schwarzenegger6:15

      You know?

   7. TFTim Ferriss6:16

      Did he take it well, or did he take it seriously? [laughs]

   8. ASArnold Schwarzenegger6:18

      No, no, but he, he took it seriously. He, he kind of like, uh, what happened is, is I've, like you said, I've done it before, and, um, it's kind of things that I do, you know, I do always, uh, you know, pranks on people-

   9. TFTim Ferriss6:31

      [laughs]

   10. ASArnold Schwarzenegger6:31

       ... and jokes and stuff like that. Uh, but it's always kind of meant with a sense of humor.

   11. TFTim Ferriss6:35

       Right.

   12. ASArnold Schwarzenegger6:36

       You know? So it, it's always when you... And I always have this, uh, tendency that when things get really intense and when people start, you know, freaking out, I try to make a joke or something to, to lighten things up and just say, "Look, you know, uh, 10 years from now, we're gonna look at this day and laugh about it. Right now it's very serious, and, uh, now we, you know, we have to, you know, really concentrate on this, and we have to do something that we don't feel comfortable," whatever the situation is. In this case, at the capital, this was the situation. It was a terrible situation that we were in economically, and I thought it would l- loosen it up before the, the legislative leaders come down, uh, you know, to my office and we start negotiating, and it just didn't go very well. I mean, he felt insulted, and he felt hurt, and he felt, "How could I do this?" and all this stuff, uh, you know. So I said, I said, "Look, I'm sorry. I did not mean it that way. Don't take it so seriously. It was m- made to be a joke" and stuff like this. [laughs]

   13. TFTim Ferriss7:28

       [laughs]

   14. ASArnold Schwarzenegger7:28

       So it's, it's, those things happen, you know.

3. 7:30 – 10:16

   The early years

   1. TFTim Ferriss7:30

      Now, you've, you're no stranger to adversity, of course. I mean, you grew up in a very small village in Austria. Uh, you had, I think, uh, the splash toilet? Or what was the, uh, the nickname for it? The [laughs] basically a-

   2. ASArnold Schwarzenegger7:40

      Yeah

   3. TFTim Ferriss7:40

      ... chamber pot, I think.

   4. ASArnold Schwarzenegger7:42

      A, a, a sponge toilet.

   5. TFTim Ferriss7:43

      Yeah. [laughs]

   6. ASArnold Schwarzenegger7:43

      Yes, exactly. Uh, and basically it's, it's like an outhouse, but it is in the house. And, uh, you know, you sit there and, uh, you know, and you hear, uh, maybe a second later after, you know, uh [laughs]

   7. TFTim Ferriss7:58

      [laughs]

   8. ASArnold Schwarzenegger7:59

      ... you go number two, you hear then the pluch.

   9. TFTim Ferriss8:01

      [laughs]

   10. ASArnold Schwarzenegger8:01

       You know, so that's why they call it a splash toilet.

   11. TFTim Ferriss8:04

       [laughs]

   12. ASArnold Schwarzenegger8:04

       And, uh, and so that was a common thing, um, in, in, in, uh, old buildings. Our building was, like, 200 and some years old, and, um, there, there was, uh, you know, there was no fl- uh, uh, uh, flushing toilet, and there was also no running water in our house where I grew up. And so we had to get basically the water from around 100, uh, to 200 yards away, uh, from a well that we had to pump. And, uh, winter and summer, didn't make any difference. And, uh, we had to carry the buckets of water, uh, to our house, to our kitchen, and then it was used very sparingly. We drank from that water. We washed ourselves with that water. There was no shower, so we washed ourselves with washcloth and with, with soap, and there was a whole kind of a, uh, you know, a, a everyone had their position. My mother went first and washed herself, and, um, then it was my father's turn, and then it was my brother's turn. And by the time I w- washed myself, uh, the lavoir or that base where the water was in was pretty black.

   13. TFTim Ferriss9:13

       [laughs]

   14. ASArnold Schwarzenegger9:13

       You know, so it was not pretty anymore. [laughs]

   15. TFTim Ferriss9:15

       [laughs]

   16. ASArnold Schwarzenegger9:16

       I maybe got more dirty-

   17. TFTim Ferriss9:17

       Best to dr-

   18. ASArnold Schwarzenegger9:17

       ... from the water than, [laughs] than I actually cleaned myself.

   19. TFTim Ferriss9:20

       Good idea to drink first.

   20. ASArnold Schwarzenegger9:21

       Yeah.

   21. TFTim Ferriss9:21

       Make sure you sate your thirst first.

   22. ASArnold Schwarzenegger9:22

       But, you know, the, the, the interesting thing about it was it was, you know, other places had exactly the same situation. We were not the only ones, so we didn't feel like kind of, wow, you know, we, we are really growing up poor. As a matter of fact, I never felt when I was a kid that we were poor. I always felt like we were like everyone else because we were surrounded by farmers that had very little money, and they had little farms, or workers, the working class, where workers, uh, made actually less money than my dad. And my dad didn't make much money at all because he was a police officer, and there was much more the benefits, the, you know, the, the, the pension that you get and the healthcare and all that stuff, uh, but not much salary, just enough that my mother could buy, to buy the groceries and to buy some things, and once a year to buy clothes at Christmastime for us or to knit some clothes for us and stuff like that. So, but, I mean, there was like the neighbors were living the same way, and everyone, when I went to school, all the other kids were kind of in the same boat.

4. 10:16 – 19:31

   Arnold’s confidence & psychological warfare

   1. TFTim Ferriss10:16

      And it, which brings up a, a question for me that I've always wanted to ask you related to confidence because I was looking at, of course, I think your name is almost synonymous with confidence for a lot of people, and people look to you to try to borrow confidence, and that's part of the appeal of a lot of your movies and your successes. But I was looking at a very old photograph of, I think, your first major bodybuilding competition in, uh, Stuttgart. I think it was the Junior Mr. Europe.

   2. ASArnold Schwarzenegger10:42

      Mm-hmm.

   3. TFTim Ferriss10:42

      And I looked at this photograph, and what stuck out to me was if we had just looked at the faces, not the bodies, it was so clear to me that you were going to win and that you knew or believed you were going to win. Your face was so confident compared to every other competitor. Where did that confidence come from?

   4. ASArnold Schwarzenegger11:03

      My confidence came from my vision, uh, because I am always a big believer that if you have a very clear vision of where you want to go, then the rest of it is much easier because you know always why you're training five hours a day. You always know why you're pushing and going through the pain barrier and why do you have to eat more and why do you have to struggle more, why do you have to be more disciplined, and all of those things become much more clear. It's not like, oh my God, I have to do another, you know, 200 sit-ups. It's more kind of like I can't wait to do another 200 sit-ups because that will get me one step closer to have the abs that I need to win that Mr. Universe, and that's my goal. I see myself clearly on that stage winning the Mr. Universe. I see myself very clearly of getting the trophy, standing there with the trophy, raising it above my head, and having hundreds of bodybuilders around me. Kind of below me on stage, uh, looking up and idolizing me, including the thousands of people that are watching the event. So there was always my clear vision, and that always inspired me, uh, to go all out. And so when I went for a competition, you have to understand, I went, uh, from the, uh, uh, to the Junior Mr. Europe during my time in the military. And so what it took for me to go and to get on that train, uh, the Personenzug, which was the people's train, meaning kind of like it was not a Schnellzug, the, you know, the fast train. It was the slow train that literally stopped on every train station to let workers off and to bring new workers on, and that's what the train was. And so with that, you could went to, all the way to Stuttgart, because it was the cheapest way of going.

   5. TFTim Ferriss12:53

      And you didn't, you-

   6. ASArnold Schwarzenegger12:53

      Because I didn't have much money

   7. TFTim Ferriss12:54

      ... and you didn't get hit by any customs officers or anything like that?

   8. ASArnold Schwarzenegger12:56

      Well, we, we, we got hit, but I mean, we, we got through it, uh-

   9. TFTim Ferriss12:59

      Right

   10. ASArnold Schwarzenegger12:59

       ... you know, and, and, um, I didn't have my passport, because you have to give up the passport when you go into the military, right? So, or, or your, your, your, your, your pass. I didn't even have a passport. Passport we got afterwards when we f- were finished with the military. But I mean, so we got through, and we got to, uh, the Germany, uh, to Stuttgart, and so there was this will there that no matter what it takes, and even if I have to crawl, uh, to Germany, that I will be there at that event because that was my shot when I saw the ads about this Mr. Europe Junior competition, Bestgebaute Athlet Europas in German.

   11. TFTim Ferriss13:38

       [laughs]

   12. ASArnold Schwarzenegger13:38

       And, uh, and that, that was my opportunity to really go and to make my first kind of a entry into an international competition, and I felt that, um, you know, I can win it, and that's what I was there for. I wasn't there to compete, I was there to win. And, uh, and so that's why you saw that facial expression. There was a certain arrogance there. There was a certain way that, that I posed with the other competitors. I always felt during the pose-off that I had my act together much more than the others did, and then I'm gonna, you know, uh, uh, kind of, you know, make them feel inferior and, uh, and I will win, and I will look facially and physically to the judges that I'm the champion.

   13. TFTim Ferriss14:24

       So you touched on something I really wanna dig into, which is the, the s- the psychological warfare of bodybuilding, of life in general. I really feel, and this is a compli- I mean it as a compliment, a, a real master, and if anyone who's watched Pumping Iron or, or anything, I think, uh, comes away with one, that as a takeaway. Uh, how did you, how did you develop that, and for instance, when you were, I guess, 17 or 18, uh, how did you get inside the heads of those people at that point?

   14. ASArnold Schwarzenegger14:54

       I think that it, it, uh, came about when I trained in the gym. I always felt that people are kind of really vulnerable, uh, in certain areas, so that someone that comes to the gym and works out because he wants to have a better body, that he most likely will be vulnerable, and that's during conversations that I discovered in Munich when I was training in the gym. They were vulnerable when you said something like, "Uh, well, you're, you're fat."

   15. TFTim Ferriss15:26

       [laughs]

   16. ASArnold Schwarzenegger15:27

       Well, it was, it was, it, it was not like a, even a, a, a doubt in anyone's mind. If 10 people would've looked at that guy, or 100 people, they all would've said that that guy is fat, but he was outraged. He said, "What? Uh, uh, uh, do you really think I'm that fat that you're mentioning it?" I said, "Well, you're in the gym." I s- I go to a doctor's office and say, "I have a cough." I don't go and beat around the bush. I say, "I have to tell him what the problem is, and then he can give me the medication." I said, "And it's the same thing in the gym." I said, "You come here because you're fucking fat."

   17. TFTim Ferriss15:57

       [laughs]

   18. ASArnold Schwarzenegger15:58

       And so th- that, let's, so now let's solve the problem. And so there's no beating around the bush there either. And so, you know, so I could see that they were kind of like shriveling up and kind of shocked. So I could see the vulnerability, and then I, I tried different lines on people, and then I would talk about their hair, their hairline, uh, or I would talk about their hair color turning gray or so- and then they would just freak out, uh, you know, about little things like that. So it was natural that with all the experience that I'd gotten of being a trainer and working with people and all this, that I learned about people's psychology and about their weaknesses and their strength and all this, how do you build people up? Because my whole thing was, let's first discover and talk about the weakness, and then let's go and rebuild everything. And, uh, so that was the idea, to give this guy a six-pack, to make him feel great, to declare victory by next summer, that he can go to the beach and that he can go and feel proud of himself and feel great and all this, and then continue training. So that was the idea. Uh, so, uh, uh, by the time I came to America and I started, you know, competing over here, uh, it was very clear that when I said to someone, um, "Let me ask you something. Is it, do you have any knee injuries or something like that?"

   19. TFTim Ferriss17:10

       [laughs]

   20. ASArnold Schwarzenegger17:10

       And then they s- would s- they would look at me and say, "No. Why? Why w- No, I've no in- [laughs] no knee injury at all. No, my knees feel great." And they say, they say, "Why are you asking?" I say, "Well, because your thighs look a little slimmer to me. I mean, I, I, uh, it, uh, I thought maybe you can't squat, or maybe there's some problem with leg extension or something." He says, "Really?" And then I saw them all for two hours in the gym, always going in front of the mirror-

   21. TFTim Ferriss17:35

       [laughs]

   22. ASArnold Schwarzenegger17:35

       ... and checking out their thighs, if their thighs still exist or something like [laughs] So but I mean, this is, you know, people get, people are vulnerable about those things. So naturally, when you now have a competition, you use all this.

   23. TFTim Ferriss17:48

       Yeah.

   24. ASArnold Schwarzenegger17:48

       And so th- they use, you ask people, were they sick, uh, for a while, you know, why they, they look a little leaner, or that they, you know, uh, you know, did you take any salty foods lately? And they say, "Why?" I say, "Because it looks like you have water retention." I say, "You don't look as ripped as you were, like, a week ago." And so, so th- that throws people off, uh, in an unbelievable way.

   25. TFTim Ferriss18:08

       And they get defensive

   26. ASArnold Schwarzenegger18:09

       And, and, and, and they walk away kind of like, oh, this didn't bother them at all, but then you n- you can see, you watch them as they walk around the pump up room, and when you warm up for the competition, and you could see them kind of thinking to themselves, kind of, and then going to the mirror and checking it out secretly and all that stuff.

   27. TFTim Ferriss18:26

       [laughs]

   28. ASArnold Schwarzenegger18:26

       So, you know, it worked. So I just slowly developed it because I always felt that sports are not just a physical thing. As a matter of fact, I felt that the, the mentality and the mental strength in sports and the psychology in sports is much more important than the physical thing. Because in reality, I mean, y- I see when I watch a Mr. Olympia competition or Mr. Universe competition or any of those things, you know, they all look pretty much the same, the top five guys. But what makes one emerge is, is the way he acts. If he acts like a winner, if you see him smiling, having a great time on stage and all this. So I felt, you know, one should use the psychology, one, one should use everything, uh, in as far as food supplements is concerned, uh, you know, use your best, best, you know, posing trunks, uh, use, you know, uh, try to use the sun out there and work out in the sun so you get tanned all around, uh, use the best posing routine. Just really give me a 10 of everything, then you have a shot of winning. And the, and psychology was definitely part of that.

5. 19:31 – 23:13

   Arnold doesn’t audition

   1. TFTim Ferriss19:31

      And you developed this, this arsenal of, uh, intimidation through the, the bodybuilding. Did you use that, for instance, uh, in movies, waiting in line to audition against other people who were going in to audition or anything like that? Did it, did it, did it apply to, to show business?

   2. ASArnold Schwarzenegger19:49

      I never auditioned.

   3. TFTim Ferriss19:52

      Okay.

   4. ASArnold Schwarzenegger19:52

      Never. Uh, it, it w- because, um, I would never go out for the regular parts because I was not a regular-looking guy. So my idea always was, okay, everyone is going to look the same, and everyone is trying to be the blonde guy in California, going to Hollywood interviews, and then looking somewhat athletic and cute and all this. Uh, okay, how can I carve myself out the niche that is unique that only I have? And so I always felt like really strong about, you know, I have to get into the movie business like Reg Park did or like Steve Reeves or Paul Winter, Ma- uh, uh, Larry, uh, uh, uh, Gordon and, and all those, uh, uh, you know, uh, all those guys that were in the muscle movies in the, in the '50s and '60s, that's the way I'm gonna get in there. Of course, you know, the naysayers were right there, and they said, "Well, you know, this time has passed. This was 20 years ago. Uh, you look too big. You're too monstrous, uh, too muscular. You will never get in the movies." So that's what producers said in the beginning in Hollywood, and that's also what agents said and managers. They said, "I doubt that you're gonna be successful in that because today's idols, I mean, this is not the '70s, Arnold. Today's idols are, you know, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, uh, Woody Allen. I mean, look, it's, it's all little guys. You know, those are the sex symbols. Those are the hot stars. Look at you. You weigh 250 pounds," or something like that. They says, "That time is over." And, um, but I felt still very strongly and had a very clear vision that the time would come where someone would appreciate that. And then sure enough, you know, um, when, uh, people saw me on talk shows, they got inspired, directors like Bob Rafelson, and then, you know, bought the script of, uh, Stay Hungry, uh, the book of Stay Hungry and had it written into a script and then did the movie with me because he believed in me, that I had the personality, and I had a certain strength and, um, a certain kind of a look that would be great on the screen, that the c- the camera loves me, uh, and all that. And so it worked. I did Stay Hungry. I did then Pumping Iron, the documentary, and, uh, you know, I did, uh, the, the Streets of San Francisco and, uh, worked then with Ann-Margret and with Kirk Douglas in The Villain. And then all of a sudden, I got the contract for Conan the Barbarian. And, uh, bang, there we were, $20 million movie, which today would be a, a equivalent of a $200 million movie. Um, and Dino De Laurentiis producing, Universal Studio and International Studio, uh, you know, uh, financing the movie. And, uh, so it was, and John Milius, a first-class director directing it. So my whole plan worked, and I was so right. Even John Milius, after he has done the movie, he said, "If we wouldn't have had Schwarzenegger, we would have had to build one" because of the body. And when I did Terminator, uh, Jim Cameron said, "If we wouldn't have had Schwarzenegger, then we couldn't have done the movie because, only because he sounded like a machine was it so believable that he actually played a machine." And that's what, where people bought in. When he says, "I'll be back," it's totally different than when I say, "I'll be back," kind of thing. And so, so, so he was the greatest compliment that the, the very things that the, the agents and the managers and the studio executives said would be a total obstacle became an asset, and, uh, my career started taking

6. 23:13 – 37:13

   A millionaire before he was a star

   1. ASArnold Schwarzenegger23:13

      off.

   2. TFTim Ferriss23:13

      So the, the not auditioning is really interesting to me, and I, I knew you were very successful in real estate, but, uh, correct me if I'm wrong, you had basically made, become a millionaire in real estate before your first movie. Is that right?

   3. ASArnold Schwarzenegger23:25

      Not before the first movie, before my career took off.

   4. TFTim Ferriss23:28

      Got it.

   5. ASArnold Schwarzenegger23:28

      So I did not rely on my movie career to make a living, because that was my in- my intention, because I saw over the years the, the, the, the people that worked out in the gym and that I met in the acting classes, they all were very vulnerable because they didn't have any money, and they had to take anything that was offered to them, uh, because that was their living. I didn't want to get into that situation. I felt like if I am smart with real estate and take my little money that I make in bodybuilding and with seminars and selling my courses, uh, through the mail order and all this, um, I could save up enough money to put down money for an apartment building. And, uh, I realized that in the '70s, the inflation rate was very high- And therefore, uh, an investment like that is, like, unbeatable because buildings that, you know, I would buy for $500,000, you know, within a year were $800,000, and I only put maybe 100 down, so, you know, you made 300% on your money, so you couldn't, you couldn't beat that. So I quickly developed and traded up my buildings and bought more, uh, uh, apartment buildings and office buildings on Main Street down in Santa Monica and so on, and, uh, the investments were very good, and it was just one of those magic decade. Uh, today you couldn't do it in that same field. There's another field in real estate where you can do that, but in this particular field, I don't think you will see those kind of jumps ever again, and I benefited from that, and I became a millionaire from, uh, uh, my real estate investments, and that was before my career took off in, uh, show business, in acting, which was after Conan the Barbarian. In 1982, that movie came out. We shot it in '81, and in '82 it came out. So from that point on, my career took off because people saw, you know, that the movie was successful at the box office. Then, you know, I signed a contract to do Conan number two, and, uh, you know, then that led to a contract, you know, with, uh, for Terminator 1 and then Commando, and it, it, you know, then the action genre-

   6. TFTim Ferriss25:34

      Right

   7. ASArnold Schwarzenegger25:34

      ... also, that was another fortunate thing. Each of those decades offered something very fortunate that was a little bit beyond my control, but I benefited from that, you know? So that, there was the action genre that all of a sudden took off in the '80s with Stallone and Van Damme and, uh, all those guys, uh, coming in, uh, really was terrific and, you know, our salaries went, you know, mine, I got, like, a million dollars for Terminator 2, and then all of a sudden, by the end of the decade, I made $20 million.

   8. TFTim Ferriss26:03

      That's incredible, and, uh, so, so I wanted to talk about the mail order for a second because that was done with, with Franco Columbu, or?

   9. ASArnold Schwarzenegger26:13

      No, the, the, the, uh, with Franco Columbu, who, for those that don't know, is a European, was a European champion in power lifting and, uh, also a boxing champion and then became a bodybuilding champion, and then he, I brought him over here s- with Joe Weider's help, uh, to train with me here in America, but at that point, there was no money in bodybuilding. That's a key thing that everyone has to understand. Unlike today where the top bodybuilding champions make millions of dollars, in those days, there was no money in bodybuilding, and so when we didn't have enough money, we literally had to go to work, and so Franco and I, since Franco's talent was to be a bricklayer, and a s- very skilled bricklayer, uh, and learned that in Italy and in Germany, uh, we were able to go and start thinking about the idea of putting an ad in the LA Times, creating a company, and calling it European Bricklayers & Masonry Experts.

   10. TFTim Ferriss27:12

       [laughs]

   11. ASArnold Schwarzenegger27:12

       Uh, marble experts, building chimneys and fireplaces, the European style, and this was also a time where everything that was European was huge in America, so we benefited from that. You know, Swedish massages, and everything had to be kind of a foreign name, or Japanese this and this and that. So Europe and, and Japan and all this, uh, uh, places, you know, were used, the, the names were used because s- for some reason or the other, people just thought that was better, and so we used that in the ad, and we put the ad in the paper, and literally a week later, we had the big earthquake-

   12. TFTim Ferriss27:49

       [laughs]

   13. ASArnold Schwarzenegger27:50

       ... uh, in, in Los Angeles, and I mean, the chimneys fell off the, the, the apartment houses and all this stuff, and the, it cracked walls and all this. And so Franco and I, we, uh, as a matter of fact, one of the friend of ours' wife, who was very smart, and she worked in a supermarket, um, she did the answering the phones and calling people back and all this, uh, just to make sure that our English doesn't get all screwed up with, uh, talking over the phone and all this, and, uh, and, and so she gave us then the addresses, and then we got to do the estimates, and I was kind of, like, set up to be the math genius and that figures out the square footage and that Franco would play the bad guy, and I played the good guy. And so we would go to someone's house, and then someone would say, "Well, look at my patio. It's all cracked. Can you guys put a new patio in here?" And I would say, "Yes," and then I would run around with the tape measure, uh, but it would be a tape measure with centimeters, and no one in those days-

   14. TFTim Ferriss28:49

       [laughs]

   15. ASArnold Schwarzenegger28:49

       ... could at all figure out anything with centimeters, and we would be measuring up, and I'd say, "Well, this is, you know, uh, four meters and, uh, 82 centimeters," and they had no idea what we were talking about, "and this is so much." And then we would, uh, we're writing up formulas and the dollars and amounts and, and, and square, uh, centimeters and square meters and all this stuff, and then, uh, I would go to the guy and I said, "Well," I, I said, um, "It's $5,000," and the guy would be in a state of shock, and he says, "It's $5,000?" He said, "This is outrageous." I said, "I mean, it, it..." He said, "I didn't think that it is." I said, "Well, what did you expect it, the, the price is?" "I thought maybe it's, like, two, $3,000. It's about 5,000?" He says... I said, then I said, uh, "Let me talk to my guy," I says, "because he's really the masonry expert," I said, "but I can beat him down for you a little bit. Yeah. Let me soften the meat." And then so I would go over to Franco, and we would start arguing in German, you know? This is, " [speaking German] And this will be going on and on, and he'd be screaming back at me in Italian and some, some stuff, and then I would be, uh, then all of a sudden, he'd calm down, and then we'd go to the guy and say, "Whew. Okay, here it is." I said, "I could get him as low as $3,800." I say, "Can you go with that?" And he says, "Thank you very much." He says, "You know, I, I, I, I, I really think that you're a great man" blah, blah, blah, and all this stuff. I say, "Okay." I say, "Give us half down right now. We go right away and get the cement and get the bricks and everything that we need for here, and we can start working," I said, "on Monday." And the guy was ecstatic. He gave us the money. We immediately ran to the bank, cashed the check, uh, to make sure that the money's in the bank account. [laughs] And then we went out and got the cement and the, the wheelbarrow, and all the, the stuff that we needed, and, uh, and went to work. And so we worked like that for two years, I mean, very successfully. A- as a matter of fact, in the end, we had, uh, various different jobs where we employed, like, 16 different bodybuilders, all the laziest bastards that you can ever hire, but never the... Because they all were interested in working outdoor and getting a tan at the same time for their bodybuilding competitions.

   16. TFTim Ferriss30:56

       [laughs]

   17. ASArnold Schwarzenegger30:56

       They were not interested in working. [laughs] But anyways, uh, we all had a good time, and we all made money, and, uh, you know, f- and this is actually then, I did this until I started my mail order business, and then that became the new source of extra income, so we could afford everything, and then save also some money and so on.

   18. TFTim Ferriss31:13

       And, uh, so I've of c- well, I shouldn't say of course, but I've, I've followed, followed you since I was a little kid. Uh, also Franco, though. I remember watching the replay of the World's Strongest Man competition-

   19. ASArnold Schwarzenegger31:23

       Mm-hmm

   20. TFTim Ferriss31:23

       ... with your refrigerator-

   21. ASArnold Schwarzenegger31:25

       Right

   22. TFTim Ferriss31:25

       ... walk when his leg gave out, but I was always impressed by how, uh, how strong he was for his weight. I mean, I think he deadlifted more than 750 pounds at less than 190 or something like that.

   23. ASArnold Schwarzenegger31:36

       Well, he did with, uh, 730, he did, like, five reps.

   24. TFTim Ferriss31:39

       That's just amazing.

   25. ASArnold Schwarzenegger31:39

       Yeah, so I mean, it was like, uh-

   26. TFTim Ferriss31:41

       And h- how, uh... What are the reasons the two of you have remained, uh, remained friends for so long?

   27. ASArnold Schwarzenegger31:49

       I think we both come from Europe. Uh, I think we both were struggling in the beginning. I met Franco the day of the Mr. Europe Junior competition. That same day, he won the powerlifting championships in the lightweight category. And, uh, so he was up there on the stage getting his trophy. I was up there on the stage getting my trophy, and then the category of bodybuilding championship of the world, past 18 years of age, uh, which would, they, they called a senior division, but it was not really senior what they consider now. He is senior, being over 45 or whatever it is. But I mean, uh, then it was just someone that was older than 18. Um, he was up there, the winner on stage. So there was all three of us on stage, and then, you know, uh, Franco worked out in Munich, and I said to him, I said, "Uh, I want to come to Munich. I want to work out in Munich, um, after the military is finished." And, uh, and f- you know, Franco said, "Well, you know, I'm, I'm there if you ever come." He says, "Let's work out together." And I told him that I admire powerlifting, that I do powerlifting and weightlifting and bodybuilding, and I want to work out with him and get stronger. And so when I basically moved to Munich, uh, Franco was one of the first guys that I went, uh, uh, to see and ask him if he wants to be my training partner. Now, Franco didn't train as much as I did at that time, uh, so I used several training partners, but Franco was one of them, and we just developed a really, a great friendship because he was a foreigner in Germany. He was a, what they call a Gastarbeiter, and so-

   28. TFTim Ferriss33:28

       Yeah

   29. ASArnold Schwarzenegger33:28

       ... I was considered a Gastarbeiter.

   30. TFTim Ferriss33:29

       Gastarbeiter.
7. 37:13 – 41:42

   The accent

   1. TFTim Ferriss37:13

      incredible. Uh, I want to talk about language for a second. Uh, when is the last time you spoke German privately in a conversation?

   2. ASArnold Schwarzenegger37:21

      I sometimes, uh, speak with a friend of mine, Ralph Muller, who is German. And, uh, so, uh, we sometimes speak German, and, um, sometimes I, I would say it's a mishmash between German and English, because some words are more accurate in German, and some words are more accurate in English. Or it's easier to use in English. It's, uh, you find more specific words in English. So we sometimes do, uh, you know, like I said, mixture o- of both.

   3. TFTim Ferriss37:49

      Yeah.

   4. ASArnold Schwarzenegger37:49

      So... And then Franco also speaks German, and so sometimes he will, we will be talking in English, and then all of a sudden he will get in- get into a German, uh, thing, and then all of a sudden we talk German.

   5. TFTim Ferriss38:02

      [laughs]

   6. ASArnold Schwarzenegger38:02

      And the same is also with my nephew, who is now a prominent, uh, entertainment attorney here. He came, I brought him over when he was 18, uh, from Austria, and, uh, from Portugal. Um, he speaks Portuguese, and he speaks German, and French, and, uh, also English now really well since he has been here all these years. And, uh, he also sometimes slips into the German, and then we start talking German, and sometimes in English. It's a, it's, uh, it, it, so every so often I get to speak German also.

   7. TFTim Ferriss38:32

      Well, I enjoyed, uh, listening to, on audio, Total Recall-

   8. ASArnold Schwarzenegger38:36

      Mm-hmm

   9. TFTim Ferriss38:36

      ... your book, and, uh, you threw in Gemutlich- uh, Gemutlichkeit.

   10. ASArnold Schwarzenegger38:40

       Yeah.

   11. TFTim Ferriss38:40

       And then kept on moving, and I was like, "Oh, I like that," 'cause I, I lived in Berlin for a short period of time.

   12. ASArnold Schwarzenegger38:44

       Right.

   13. TFTim Ferriss38:45

       And I really enjoyed it. Uh, but there are-

   14. ASArnold Schwarzenegger38:46

       Yeah, and also, also in, uh, The Escape Plan-

   15. TFTim Ferriss38:50

       Mm

   16. ASArnold Schwarzenegger38:50

       ... I used the German, and, uh, you know, we did this whole scene, uh, i- in, in, in German. They're going crazy. They're going crazy in German. So that was fun to do and all that stuff. But, you know, the Austrians, uh, have a different dialect. It's kind of the Austrians are like Southerners-

   17. TFTim Ferriss39:05

       Right

   18. ASArnold Schwarzenegger39:06

       ... you know, where people say, "Huh? What did you say?"

   19. TFTim Ferriss39:08

       [laughs]

   20. ASArnold Schwarzenegger39:08

       You know, kind of thing. So the, the Ger- people, people that have the high German or that live up more north-

   21. TFTim Ferriss39:13

       Right

   22. ASArnold Schwarzenegger39:13

       ... they speak more and more perfect. Like, when you go to Berlin, it's like totally like the way you write it-

   23. TFTim Ferriss39:18

       Yeah, Hochdeutsch

   24. ASArnold Schwarzenegger39:18

       ... the German. Yeah, Hochdeutsch, exactly.

   25. TFTim Ferriss39:20

       Uh, now, I, I was having a conversation not too long ago with, um, Arianna Huffington, and she was telling me about a conversation she had with Henry Kissinger because she was taking, uh, accent reduction classes. And, and Kissinger s- said, "No, no, no. You want to keep your accent."

   26. ASArnold Schwarzenegger39:36

       That's right.

   27. TFTim Ferriss39:37

       Uh, so I wanted to ask you, you've taken accent reduction classes before, but was there a, a point at which, you know, you realized, wow, this is actually a strength. I don't want to get rid of this?

   28. ASArnold Schwarzenegger39:48

       Well, the object- uh, the objective was not to get rid of the accent. When you take accent removal classes and dialect classes and English classes, that whole combination, it's all designed that you speak so everyone understands you. Sometimes people have a tendency, foreigners have a tendency of pronouncing a word so wrong or with such wrong emphasis that people don't know what they're talking about, and then when you correct them and they say it the right way, then you totally understand it, and, and, and you, you're perfectly fine. So the, the trick is really to learn how to enunciate and how to really speak the, the language well and how not to rush, uh, and throw words together that makes it then almost impossible to understand. Uh, so Henry Kissinger's right. Everyone will always remember Henry Kissinger because of his accent and because of his brilliance. And I think everyone will always remember Arianna Huffington for her accent and for being this woman that set out the goal of creating this magazine and, um, and, and being highly successful and, uh, being always politically oriented and policy, you know, becoming a policy wonk and all those kind of, uh, things. But there are many of those, but what separates her is the accent.

   29. TFTim Ferriss41:10

       Yeah.

   30. ASArnold Schwarzenegger41:10

       You know, the way she talks, you know? And, uh, she's Greek, and so she has, of course, a different accent than I have, which made it really funny during the debates when we had the gubernatorial debates in Sacramento. She was there, you know, whining with her Greek accent, and [laughs] I was there talking with my German accent and all this. It was hilarious. It just showed, you know, how far, you know, kind of the world has come or, or California has come that all of a sudden you have two of the top candidates, you know, all foreigners-
8. 41:42 – 49:39

   Film contract master strokes

   1. TFTim Ferriss41:42

      So, so the... I've been very fascinated to look at your, your film career and hear the story of, of Twins. So s- I was hoping maybe you could tell us the story of Twins, how Twins came together, and how you guys structured that deal, because I didn't know anything about that. Uh-

   2. ASArnold Schwarzenegger42:01

      Well, Twins came together because I felt very strongly that I had a side of me that is a very humorous side, and that if someone would be patient enough and willing to work with me as a director, that they would be able to bring that humor out of me. And that's, you know, um, something that is very difficult, because you can be humorous In your private life, but cannot pull it off in a movie. There's many actors that have tried that, uh, and were not successful. So I felt, you know, that I should really, uh, talk to Ivan Reitman because I really loved Ghostbusters, and I said to myself, "God, it was so well-directed," and, and all this, and I just happened to run into him, um, when I was in Aspen, and, uh, we were hanging out. It was, uh, Robin Williams and some other people, and, uh, we were all up there at Snowmass, and we were skiing, and then at night and before dinner we all had a great time sitting by the fireplace and joking around. And Ivan Reitman would say to me, uh, "Arnold," I says, "you know, I listen to you, and I see a side of you that has never really been on screen." And I said to him, I said, uh, you know, "I, I would love to do a comedy, and I would love to bring that side out. If it is the innocence of me or the naivety of me or the humor of me, whatever it is," I said, "I would like to see that on the screen." I say, "I think it could be good." And then he said, "Okay." Um, so I said to him, I said, "I want you to work with me and to direct me in a movie. Let's figure out what it should be." And he said, "Okay, I would love to do that. I'm gonna go home after Christmas, after this vacation, and I'm gonna look into, uh, and develop a bunch of ideas, and then, uh, you and I get together and then pick the, the one that we like the best." He developed, uh, immediately, within short period of time, a bunch of ideas. I think there was five ideas, and the one that we both liked the most was called, uh, The Experiment, which then became Twins. Experiment we didn't like because of my German-Austrian background, so we thought that it would be better to call it Twins, and, um, uh, and we developed that project, got it written. I came up with the idea then of, uh, Danny DeVito, that it shouldn't be just someone that is acting totally opposite of the way I am, but it should also look physically totally opposite of the way I am. And, uh, Ivan loved that idea, and then we went after Danny DeVito, and I remember we sat in a restaurant, and we made a deal on a napkin and wrote down, you know, this is what we do. We're gonna make the movie for free. We don't want to get any salaries, and we get a big back end, and this, Ivan should take this deal then and with the agent to the studio. And he took it to Tom Pollock, who was then running, uh, Universal Studio, and, um, Tom Pollock said, "This is great. We can make this movie for, you know, $16.5 million if this g- if you guys don't take a salary, um, and you get a big back end. We're gonna give you 37% of whatever it was, uh, together," b- b- between Danny, Ivan, and me. And, uh, and we worked out the percentage of what our salaries are, so whatever Danny got at that time for a movie versus what I got for a movie and versus what Ivan got for directing. So we worked it out percentage-wise, and that's how we ended up m- dividing up the pot amongst ourselves, and [laughs] let me tell you, I made more money on that movie than on any other movie, and the, the, the gift keeps on giving.

   3. TFTim Ferriss45:41

      [laughs]

   4. ASArnold Schwarzenegger45:42

      It is just, it's just wonderful, and, uh, and, and, and I remember Tom Pollock, after the movie came out [laughs] he said to me, he says, "All I can tell you is," he says, "This is what you guys did to me." And he bent over. He turned around, bent over, and he pulled his pockets out, and he says, "You fucked me and cleaned me up."

   5. TFTim Ferriss45:59

      [laughs]

   6. ASArnold Schwarzenegger46:00

      [laughs] He said... So it was very funny. He says, "I will never make that deal again." [laughs]

   7. TFTim Ferriss46:06

      [laughs]

   8. ASArnold Schwarzenegger46:06

      That was funny, but anyway, so the movie was a huge hit. It came out just before Christmas, and throughout Christmas and New Year it made every, uh, day, uh, three to four million dollars, and, uh, which in today's term it will be, of course, you know, double or triple. Uh, but it was just huge, and it, it just went up to $129 million domestically, and, uh, I think worldwide it was, like, uh, $300 and, uh, $260 million or something like that. So it was really very, very successful, and it, like I said, it, uh, it ended up costing, I think, around $18 million, the movie to make.

   9. TFTim Ferriss46:40

      Amazing.

   10. ASArnold Schwarzenegger46:40

       Yeah.

   11. TFTim Ferriss46:40

       So amazing. Now, you know, I was... When, when I hear a story like that, I think of the deal that George Lucas did for Star Wars where the studio's like, "Ah, toys? Whatever, sure, yeah, you can have the toys." [laughs] And then-

   12. ASArnold Schwarzenegger46:51

       Right

   13. TFTim Ferriss46:51

       ... they probably felt very much the same way. They're like, "Wow, we're not gonna make that mistake again."

   14. ASArnold Schwarzenegger46:55

       That's right.

   15. TFTim Ferriss46:56

       Uh, now you have, um, a new film. Uh, I'm- you have several, but Maggie, and, uh, I'd love to, for you to tell people about it, but I was also curious, maybe you could comment on this, but in this day and age, why, why you don't, say, finance an entire film yourself or crowdsource all the financing your- yourself so you're the only, uh, not necessarily the only producer, but you're the s- the sole owner of that film?

   16. ASArnold Schwarzenegger47:22

       Yeah, I, I for some reason or the other, um, always felt that I should keep the two apart, and I should not invest and, uh, put money into films. Um, this is a whole other business to be in, to finance movies, and, um, I think that, uh, you know, my strength is to be a performer. I think there's people out there that are very good in financing movies and raising money for movies or people that run studios and all this, and I let them do their job, what they're doing. I do my job, what I'm doing, and this is why I just never did that. Uh, it's, it's something else if someone has a great idea to do a documentary or something like this and says, "This, this costs $2 million. Uh, you know, can you help us with this? And I feel passionate about it." Like for instance, you know, Brooklyn Castle, you know, if someone would have come to me and said, "Hey, uh, here's a, a, you know, documentary we want to do about after-school programs and inner-city kids," I said, "Wait a minute. Those are two things I'm very passionate about." I love playing chess, which is what it's all about, right? The, the documentary, uh, how kids in the inner cities play chess and how they become smart and how they stay off the streets, therefore not get into trouble with teenage pregnancy and juvenile crime and all those things, and they have adult supervision, and they, you know, they get confidence, and those are kids that are, 70% of them are below the poverty line. So that's a great story, and it is something that both of them, chess and inner-city kids after-school programs, they feel passionate about. So I would have put money into that. Um, the- And I wouldn't have been in it. I would have just, you know, done it because I think it's a story that ought to be told. And, uh, so things like that is something else. But in my own movies, I don't know, I never feel comfortable with that idea.

   17. TFTim Ferriss49:04

       Keep them separate.

   18. ASArnold Schwarzenegger49:05

       Yeah.

   19. TFTim Ferriss49:06

       You know, now that I think about it, I, I do a lot of investing in startups, and sometimes people ask me, "Why don't you start your own startup?" And I basically give them a very similar answer. [laughs] It's like, "No, I'm already heavily concentrated. I'd like to keep the two very separate."

   20. ASArnold Schwarzenegger49:18

       That's right, yeah.

   21. TFTim Ferriss49:18

       So I'm glad you brought up, um, Brooklyn Castle. So a friend of mine was, was interviewed on this podcast named Josh Waitzkin. He was the basis for Searching for Bobby Fischer.

   22. ASArnold Schwarzenegger49:26

       Uh-huh.

   23. TFTim Ferriss49:26

       So very well known as a chess player. And, uh, I've heard you talk about the, I think it's the 3:00 to 6:00 PM is the danger zone. W- uh, and I'm on the advisory board for donorschoose.org, and a number of nonprofits related

9. 49:39 – 55:59

   After-school programs: a passion

   1. TFTim Ferriss49:39

      to education. Why are you so passionate about after-school programs?

   2. ASArnold Schwarzenegger49:42

      Um, because I felt that when I grew up, even though we were very poor, but I had someone there 24 hours a day for me to improve, to learn, to do sports, and to get attention, and to get the love, and to get the discipline. It was tough, uh, upbringing. Uh, but it was a combination of, you know, g- great discipline, um, and also l- uh, love. And, uh, but I felt like that, that having someone there with you 24 hours a day from the time in the morning you get up to the time you go to school, and there were the teachers there, and there were the, the coaches there, and the- there was the school principal, and all of them, and then you go home, and there's your mother there helping you with your homework. And then in the evening, your dad comes home, and he goes, takes you to the soccer field and does sports with you, and in the winter, ice curling and all those things. So I just felt when I watch and go from school to school, which I did when I was the chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, I traveled through all 50 states and visited one school after the next. And always at 3:00, I felt like these kids are going out there, and then I saw half of them standing around in front of the school and then wandering around. The other half were getting picked up. And I said to myself, "What happens with those kids out there?" And the, the, the teachers or the principal would always say is, "Well, you know, the problem today is, is that so many parents are working. Both of the parents are working, and they don't have really the ability to pick up their kids from school." And what happens is a lot of these kids then get into trouble, you know? And so then I started looking into it, the idea of after-school programs. And I s- and I saw that there are after-school programs around, but they're not really well organized. And so I stepped in. I started after-school programs here in Los Angeles. We very quickly then spread them all over California and then all over the United States, and now we're in, like, 13 or 14 cities, uh, all over the United States, including we are in Hawaii. And, um, and they have been really beneficial, and we even passed an initiative in California in, uh, 2002, which was the After School Education and Safety Act that provides an additional $500 million for after-school programs in California. And because of that, which started going into effect in 2006, from that point on now, every high school and middle school in California has after-school programs. And then also churches and o- other organizations that are not connected to the school can also get money for after-school programs, uh, so they can have their after-school programs. So it really has, uh, become one of my passions, and it's, it's just simply like I said, I had that upbringing. I had the attention 24 hours a day, and it helped me to be who I am. And I felt bad for the kids when they don't get an equal shot because the only way you can be successful is if you really get this kind of attention, and if you don't get kind of in the situation where you float around on the streets, then you get involved with gangs and with drugs and with, with violence and, uh, and, and, you know, like I said, teenage pregnancy, and you commit juvenile crimes, and, uh, you end up in jail. It doesn't serve anybody, and it costs the community a lot of money. And the way I got Republican support for that in California and had them endorse my initiative was because I showed to them that for every dollar we spent, we save $3 down the line. And so from a fiscal point of view, they endorsed it, even though they don't like the, you know, the nanny state thing and to have government step in and do the job for parents. Uh, the Democrats endorsed it for that. They thought the government-

   3. TFTim Ferriss53:30

      Right

   4. ASArnold Schwarzenegger53:30

      ... is responsible, and we ought to do something because it's, it's the new challenge, that 70% of the kids come from homes where both of the parents are working, and they do not have time for the kids in the afternoon. So who is helping this kid with homework? Who is hel- helping this kid with tutoring and with sports programs and a- adult supervision and giving the kid the love that the kid needs and the confidence building that the kid needs? And for that, after-school program is the number one answer to the problem. We have seen it over and over what great success rate we have had with after-school programs. And hopefully, the movement will grow, and eventually every child will have the opportunity to join an after-school program if they don't have a parent at home that can help them with all those things.

   5. TFTim Ferriss54:16

      And everybody listening, I'll obviously provide links to all the organizations that Arnold's i- i- involved with, and I encourage you and implore you to consider becoming involved, supporting, or becoming a mentor or big brother or sister of some type. Uh, I grew up on Long Island, and I had-- I was a competitive athlete. I was a wrestler for a very long time, and that kept me out of trouble, and I can see how easily... Both my parents worked. Many of my friends growing up there, uh, ended up overdosing on drugs, becoming involved with drugs because they had idle hands during that period of time.

   6. ASArnold Schwarzenegger54:50

      Right. Right. But the, the, the other thing you have to understand is when you are a foreigner, an immigrant, and you come over here, and you enjoy the unbelievable opportunities that America has to offer- It is natural that you feel like you want to give something back. And I felt like when I was the chairman of the President's Council, and then when I was a, a trainer for the Special Olympics, uh, and then with the after-school programs, it was my way also of giving back. Uh, because people listened to me because at that point I was a celebrity already, and I had a tremendous power of influence because of my movies and all that. Says I might as, I might as well use this power of influence for something good, and also give something back to the country, and that's why I always ran for governor and all that stuff. So I think it just feels good to do something for people that need help. That's, you know, what life is all about.

   7. TFTim Ferriss55:42

      Totally agree. And d- and for those of you out there who've read my stuff, I get asked by readers a lot, um, you know, what's, what's the key to happiness? And I think if you're not sure of how to make yourself happy, make someone else happy, help someone else, and, uh, the payback is enormous.

10. 55:59 – 1:01:11

    Success equals leadership

    1. TFTim Ferriss55:59

       Uh, Arnold, when you hear the word successful, who's the first person who comes to mind?

    2. ASArnold Schwarzenegger56:04

       I think that, um, people like Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Elon Musk. I mean, people like that, right? Because it's, it's the first thing that you do think of when you th- you hear about success, th- th- that they're really worldwide known for their success. But then there's another, there is other layers. You know? Like for instance, you know, you cannot avoid someone like, uh, Nelson Mandela, who, uh, showed to the world about forgiveness, and showed to the world about tolerance and inclusion. And the w- the job that he did in South Africa was not only a great job for South Africa, but it was a great job for the whole world because he inspired everybody to be le- remotely like that. You know, no one can really be like that, but, because he was really very, very special, and I was very fortunate to meet him twice and to, to work with him in Special Olympics in South Africa, and to be at his prison cell, uh, in Robben Island, and to have him sh- have him show me around and all this. And I had time to talk with him and spend ti- a, a day with him, uh, twice. So, uh, there, it... So he's definitely one of those guys. Or, uh, uh, uh, Mikhail Gorbachev. I mean, someone that grows up under communism, and then when he's on the top realizes that the system doesn't work, and then dismantle it. I mean, think about the, the, the chutzpah that takes, right-

    3. TFTim Ferriss57:32

       Yeah

    4. ASArnold Schwarzenegger57:33

       ... to, to do that. It's, it's, ex- extraordinary-

    5. TFTim Ferriss57:36

       Didn't need to mail him-

    6. ASArnold Schwarzenegger57:36

       Unbelievable-

    7. TFTim Ferriss57:36

       Didn't need to mail him any bull testicles [laughs]

    8. ASArnold Schwarzenegger57:37

       That's right, yeah. Unbelievable leadership, you know, and, and vision and all that. Uh, or if in sports, I mean, if you think about Muhammad Ali, how can you not th- uh, think about success a- and not think about him? Because that guy was so successful, but also not only successful in sports, but also in generosity. I mean, that he gave everything away. I mean, he would go through the airport, and if he, he sees someone that has no money, he would give him a $100 bill. You know? So he was an extraordinary athlete. So there's a lot of people like that. I, I think that when you go through history, also there's someone that I just thought of that I should mention, that is Cincinnatus, and he was a Roman emperor, and, uh, in the Roman, uh, Empire. And, uh, he, why I admire him, and as, as a matter of fact, uh, Cincinnati the city is named after him because he was a big idol of George Washington also. And the, the reason why he is a, a, a great example of, uh, success is because he was asked reluctantly to, to step in into power and become the emperor, and to, to help because Rome was about to get annihilated by all these, uh, wars a- and battles. And so to step in there and to help them. And he was a farmer. Powerful guy. And he went, took on the challenge, took over Rome, took over the, the, the army, and, um, won the war. And then after he won the war, he has felt that he has done his mission why he was asked to go and be the emperor, and he gave the ring back and went back to farming. And he didn't only do this once, he did it twice.

    9. TFTim Ferriss59:22

       [laughs]

    10. ASArnold Schwarzenegger59:22

        They went back later on to him once again, and when, when they tried to overthrow the empire, uh, within, and they ask him back, and he came back. He cleaned up the mess, uh, with some great, great leadership which he had, a, a tremendous leadership quality in bringing people together. And then again, he gave the ring back and went back to farming.

    11. TFTim Ferriss59:47

        That's incredible.

    12. ASArnold Schwarzenegger59:48

        And to be, as it we all know, it's very addictive-

    13. TFTim Ferriss59:52

        Yeah

    14. ASArnold Schwarzenegger59:52

        ... to be powerful. And it's very addictive, and I know how difficult it was for me to, uh, let go of being governor, and then all of a sudden you're not sitting there and making decisions about what's gonna happen, you know, the, the financial crisis, what's gonna happen to the regulations, the greenhouse regulations, what's gonna happen, you know, to our, you know, high-speed rail, what's happening with the university, and you're not there anymore, you know, making the decisions. So it's very hard to let that go. So imagine someone like that to let go, to be the emperor.

    15. TFTim Ferriss1:00:24

        Yeah.

    16. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:00:24

        It's a whole different thing. And so, so to me, uh, so that's very admirable. And then when I think about success, he's also somebody I would put in that category.

    17. TFTim Ferriss1:00:32

        I'll have to do some more research on him.

    18. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:00:34

        Yeah.

    19. TFTim Ferriss1:00:34

        Uh, do we have time for just a few more questions?

    20. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:00:36

        Sure.

    21. TFTim Ferriss1:00:36

        Um, so feel free to not answer this if you don't want to, but this is almost the opposite of the last question. When you think of the word punchable, who's the first f- what's the first face that comes to mind?

    22. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:00:47

        Punchable? I, I, I n- never even thought about that.

    23. TFTim Ferriss1:00:50

        [laughs] Most people don't walk around thinking about it.

    24. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:00:55

        No, but I mean...

    25. TFTim Ferriss1:00:56

        [laughs] Okay.

    26. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:00:58

        So I don't think there's anyone that I can think of right now-

    27. TFTim Ferriss1:01:03

        Okay [laughs]

    28. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:01:04

        ... who would be punchable.

    29. TFTim Ferriss1:01:05

        I was worried thinking about asking this that you might just reach across and knock my front teeth into the back of my head. But, uh,

11. 1:01:11 – 1:04:09

    A favorite book

    1. TFTim Ferriss1:01:11

       the- Is there a particular, do you have a favorite book or a book that you've given to people as a gift the most?

    2. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:01:19

       Well, there's one book that I have actually, since it was just Christmas, that I've given away, uh, a lot of copies, and this is a w- a book about Winston Churchill by Mayor Boris Johnson. I don't know if you're familiar with him. He's the mayor of London, and he's a real interesting character. They think that he could be eventually prime minister of England. Um, very talented guy. Not a party servant, but a people servant, and he came up with the Boris Bike, uh, that has now bicycles all over London that you can, that anyone can just take and ride around with the bikes, and then now they have this in all over Europe, in France, in Paris, in Vienna, and everywhere. They all took this idea that people would drive less in the city if they have the possibility-

    3. TFTim Ferriss1:02:04

       Bicycles

    4. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:02:05

       ... to just get a bike from a bike stand. And so he's a very interesting guy. So he, I did not even know that he is, you know, this extraordinary writer at the same time, uh, but I was in, in London for a promotion, and I saw on a bookshelf in my suite this book, Winston Churchill. And of course, I admire Winston Churchill. He's one of those guys that I really love, and so I took this book down from the bookshelf, and then I looked and it said, oh, Boris Johnson, the mayor, he wrote it. I said, "I got to get that." So I put it back, and then, uh, Daniel wrote down, uh, uh, s- Oh, okay.

    5. TFTim Ferriss1:02:39

       Oh, yeah. There it is.

    6. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:02:39

       There, yeah. So, so anyway, uh, so we wrote down the title, and we wrote down, you know, all the information, and then we, uh, we got it as a Christmas gift for a lot of people. But the other book that I have given, I mean, hundreds of copies to is Free to Choose by Milton Friedman, and it kind of lays out why, um, the private sector is really the answer to a lot of the problems that we have, and not government. And, uh, I think it's a real great, uh, kind of a, a, a, a, a philosophic kind of a book about how to approach our problems, if it is education, if it is economic growth, and all of those kind of various different issues. Um, you know, he lays it out. It's a very simple book to read, but it is very good, and it has an, it makes an impact on you when you read it. And the other one I think is, um, California by Kevin Starr. Kevin Starr was our librarian, a state librarian, and he has written more books on California than anyone. So if anyone is at all interested in, uh, a book about California, you know, what makes California unique and special and the history of it, the political history of it, and all the little details, I mean, that's a good book to have. So it's a, it's a, it's a great gift, especially when I was governor and you, you give people gifts, and you give it, of course, of California, a book about California and so on. So that's, uh, you know, uh, the kind of reading that I like and that I like to share with other people.

    7. TFTim Ferriss1:04:04

       Wonderful. I have just one more question, then I'd love to hear where we can learn more about all of the projects that you're up to.

12. 1:04:09 – 1:09:56

    Transcendental Meditation

    1. TFTim Ferriss1:04:09

       Uh, and that is, I've, I've heard you mention transcendental meditation in passing briefly. Do you meditate?

    2. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:04:18

       Um, I don't meditate now, but I, uh, got heavily into it in the '70s, and I remember there was a time in my life where I felt like everything is just kind of coming together, and I did not find a way or couldn't find a way of keeping the things separate. So it was always when I was thinking about, I was thinking about at the same time my bodybuilding career, I was thinking about my movie career, I was thinking about the documentary Pumping Iron that we are shooting right now, and the movie Stay Hungry that we just finished shooting, and the, my investment in the apartment building, and is this gonna... Do I get the financing from the bank? And the, all of this kind of stuff was always coming together, and at the same time I was training for the Mr. Olympia competition in South Africa, and I was training right here at, uh, Gold's Gym. And I remember there was all the camera equipment around five hours a day in my face, and then someone in the middle of squatting was trying to, to change the battery pack on my, on my lifting belt and all that stuff.

    3. TFTim Ferriss1:05:13

       [laughs]

    4. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:05:14

       So yeah, it was like, you know, eventually I felt like I got to do something about it because I have such great opportunities here, and everything is happening, and everything is going my way, but I'm just clustering everything into one big problem rather than separating it out and having calm and peace and, and being happy. And so I, but total, in a coincident, I ran into this guy that I've run into many times on the beach, very, very pleasant man, who, uh, told me that he is a teacher in transcendental meditation. And I said, "Well, it's interesting you mention it, is it because I feel like I should do something because I feel like, you know, I, I'm, I'm just overly worried and anxieties and all this stuff, uh, and I feel like certain pressures that I've never felt before." And he says, "Oh," he says, "Arnold, it's not uncommon. It's very common. A lot of people go through this. This is why people use meditation, transcendental meditation as one way of dealing with the problem." And he was very good in selling it because he didn't say it's the only answer. He just says one of many. And he says, "Why don't you try it?" He says, "I'm a teacher there up in Westwood. I would not be able to teach you since we have a r- a friend, we have, we are friends, and we, uh, have met years." He says, "There will be another teacher there that will give you a mantra and blah, blah, blah, and teach you how to do it, and then I can help you after that," uh, he says, "because I will be teaching up there. So why don't you come up on Thursday, and I will be there. I will introduce you to the folks up there." And so then I went up there, took a, a, a class, uh, and I went home after that and I then tried it. I said, I said, "I got to give it a shot." And I did 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes at night, and I would say within, um, 14 days, three weeks, I got to the point where I really could disconnect my mind and, uh, as they say, to find these few seconds of disconnection and rejuvenate the, the, the, the mind and, um, and also learn how to focus more and to calm down. And, uh, I did that for, it, and I saw the effect right away. That I was much more calm about all of the challenges that were facing me. And, um, I continued doing that then for a year. And by that time I felt like, I think that I've mastered this. I think that now I don't feel overwhelmed anymore. Uh, and I really felt kind of it was, uh, one of those things where, uh, you know, transcendental meditation was kind of anxiety and pressure meeting around the corner tranquility. You know, this is kind of what it, what it felt. And, um, and, uh, so I was happy from that point on. And even today I still benefit from that because I don't merge and bring things together and see everything as one big problem. I take on one challenge at a time, and when I go and I study my script for a movie, then that time, that day when I study my script for a movie, I don't let anything else interfere in that and I just concentrate on that. So, and, uh, the, the, the, the other thing that I've learned is that there's many forms of meditation in a way because, like, when I study and I work really hard, where it takes the ultimate amount of concentration, I can only do it for 45 minutes maybe, maybe an hour, but then I have to kind of run off and maybe play chess. And I play chess for 15 minutes and then I can go back and I have all the energy in the world again and jump right back and then continue on with my work as, as if I've not done it at all the day, right? It's like I'm fresh. And so that's another way I think of meditation. And then I also figured out that I could use my workouts as a form of meditation because I concentrate so much on the muscle, and I have my mind inside the bicep when I do my curls. I have my mind inside the pectoral muscles when I do my bench press. So I'm really inside, and it's like, again, a form of meditation because [clears throat] you have no chance of thinking or concentrating on anything else at that time but just that training that you do. And, uh, so there's many ways of meditation, and I benefit from all of those, and I'm today much calmer because of that, and much more organized and, uh, much more tranquil because of that.

    5. TFTim Ferriss1:09:48

       This whole conversation makes me want to go tackle the world. I love it. And, uh, I really appreciate all of your time.

13. 1:09:56 – 1:17:20

    Current and future projects

    1. TFTim Ferriss1:09:56

       Where can people... And of course I'll link to all of these things in the show notes for folks, but where can people learn more about what you're up to? What would you like to share with people?

    2. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:10:05

       Well, I think that, uh, you know, people, they know, uh, my, uh, ambitions in the movie business, you know, the, the, that I, I love doing movies. But, uh, I think because of my interest in public policy, uh, after my governorship, I have then started at USC, the USC Schwarzenegger Institute, that deals with some of the issues that I felt very passionate about during the time I was governor, and even beforehand, which was in a political reform. Um, you know, we, we, we were very successful in doing redistricting reform in California and open primaries and so on, which now brings, uh, politicians much more to the center. But this is not the, the only thing. There's many more things that need to be accomplished in California and nationwide. So our institute deals with that. It also deals, you know, with stem cell research. It deals with, uh, economic growth and opportunities. It deals with education, uh, after-school programs, uh, programs and so on, and, uh, especially also with environmental issues. And, uh, you know, I have an environmental organization on top of that, which is, uh, the R20, uh, which deals, uh, with subnational governments because I feel always very strongly that while we are striving towards a, um, Kyoto II treaty and where all the, the, the nations in the world come together, and I hope that they're going to be successful this year in Paris in December, um, I at the same time want subnational governments like California and, and other states and other provinces and cities to, um, set their own goals and not to wait just for this treaty, but to have the from the top-down approach, which the international treaty will be, and from the bottom-up grassroots level approach from the bottom up, because when those two meet, then we really create critical mass. That's what it's all about. So I want to continue pushing towards a renewable energy future, as is my crusade. It's as much a crusade as my fitness crusade was for the last 45 years, and we've been pretty successful with that, uh, so I hope that we're gonna be successful with that too. But it does need everyone to buy in and everyone to participate, and that's why I go around the world and give speeches on environmental issues and try to bring countries together, make sure that this year it will be a huge success, but at the same time have subnational governments set their own goals and do exactly what we did in California. In California, we didn't wait for Washington. We didn't wait for a UN treaty or anything like this. We set the goal of reducing our greenhouse gases by 20%, by 25% by the year 2020 and 85% by the year 2050. We created the million extra solar roofs in California. We lowered the fuel standards here. We set the goal to, to up the renewables from 25% to 48% by the year 2020. So these are all things that we did. Uh, we didn't wait for Washington, and so we want other states to do the same thing. And luckily, California showed great leadership, and now we see other subnational governments doing the same thing.

    3. TFTim Ferriss1:13:03

       And that's regions20.org?

    4. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:13:04

       This is R20, yeah. Regions20.

    5. TFTim Ferriss1:13:06

       And, uh, people can find you on Twitter, @Schwarzenegger?

    6. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:13:10

       That's right.

    7. TFTim Ferriss1:13:10

       Wonderful. All right. Uh, is there anything else that [laughs] that you'd like to mention before we close out?

    8. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:13:17

       Uh, yeah. Uh, uh, Omaze. We're doing another fundraiser, uh, with Omaze, and, uh, the last time we did for the after-school programs, which we talked about earlier. Uh, I do fundraising all the time because they always need money, and for every dollar we can sit, you know, send more kids to after-school programs, so, uh, we're always raising money. So the, the last time we had a tank. Uh, drive and, and, and destroy things.

    9. TFTim Ferriss1:13:42

       Amazing.

    10. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:13:42

        I have things out-

    11. TFTim Ferriss1:13:42

        Amazing video

    12. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:13:43

        ... inside there. Yeah, there's a model tank right there behind you.

    13. TFTim Ferriss1:13:46

        Oh, yeah, [laughs] there is.

    14. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:13:46

        And this is, so the, the big tank, the real tank, M47 from my military days, it's the real tank. So we basically, you know, whoever won the bid came out, and you could sit with me in a, in a, uh, in the tank, and then we crushed things together, pianos, toilet bowls, uh, living rooms, and everything that the-

    15. TFTim Ferriss1:14:02

        [laughs]

    16. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:14:02

        ... that he picked, we just destroyed. And we raised over a million dollars from that, which was really great, and we had a lot of fun at the same time. This time, instead of, you know, destroying things with a tank, we blow things up. So this will be the new fundraiser, which we-

    17. TFTim Ferriss1:14:15

        [laughs]

    18. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:14:15

        ... we're gonna start, uh, I think in, very soon, as in February, as a matter of fact. So that's another thing that I'm doing, is always raising money for the after-school programs.

    19. TFTim Ferriss1:14:24

        And is the, is the link going to be the same as the last? Yeah, it'll be omaze.com/arnold. Okay, omaze.com/arnold. I'll put that in the show notes as well.

    20. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:14:32

        Good.

    21. TFTim Ferriss1:14:32

        Sir, thank you so much for the time.

    22. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:14:34

        Thank you very much. Thank you.

    23. TFTim Ferriss1:14:34

        This has been wonderful.

    24. ASArnold Schwarzenegger1:14:35

        Thank you.

    25. TFTim Ferriss1:14:36

        Until next time, thank you for listening, folks. [upbeat music] Thank you for listening to this episode of The Tim Ferriss Show. I will be putting links to all the books mentioned, resources, websites, et cetera, at fourhourworkweek.com/arnold. And if you enjoyed this episode, two things. Number one, I'm hoping to get some bonus questions answered from Arnold, and I will be putting those on Facebook at facebook.com/timferriss, T-I-M-F-E-R-R-I-S-S, two Rs and two Ss. And if you enjoyed this episode, there are several others of mine that I think you will love. The first is with Tony Robbins, of course, advisor to people like Andre Agassi, top hedge fund managers, Bill Clinton, Serena Williams, the list goes on and on, about his morning rituals and routines, among many other things. Just go to fourhourworkweek.com/tony to check that out. And then my vote for the most interesting man in the world in real life is Kevin Kelly. And if you don't know who he is or if you have heard the name before, either way, this is an incredible three-part episode. You gotta check it out. It is fourhourworkweek.com/kevin. And until next time, thank you very much for listening. [upbeat music] The Tim Ferriss Show is brought to you by ONNIT. I have used ONNIT products for years. If you look in my kitchen, in my garage, you will find Alpha Brain, chewable melatonin for resetting my clock when I'm traveling, kettlebells, battle ropes, maces, steel clubs. Sounds like a torture chamber, and it kind of is. It's a torture chamber for self-improvement. [laughs] And you can see all of my favorite gear at onnit.com/tim. That's O-N-N-I-T.com/tim, and you can also get a discount on any supplements, food products. I like Hemp Force. I like Alpha Brain. Check it all out, onnit.com/tim. The Tim Ferriss Show is also brought to you by 99designs. 99designs is your one-stop shop for anything graphic design related. You need a logo, you need a website, you need a business card or anything else, you get an original design from designers around the world who submit drafts for you to review. You are happy or you get your money back. And I have used 99designs for book cover ideas for The 4-Hour Body, which went to number one New York Times, for banner ads, and you can check out some of my actual competitions at 99designs.com/tim. You can also get a free $99 upgrade if you wanna give it a shot. That's 99designs.com/tim.

Episode duration: 1:17:21