Determined. Nothing To Something – America’s Most Successful Immigrant? | Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnorld Schwarzenegger was born in Austria in 1947 after the second world war. His parents wanted him to stay there and have a normal life. His father wanted him to become a police officer like him and mother just wanted him to go to trade school, find a good girl and have children. Those were his parents’ dreams for him but he believed that he was born for something special.

He began lifting weights at the age of 15. He had a vision of becoming a body builder and winning the world Mr. Universe title. He was so dedicated as a youngster that he broke into the local gym on weekends, so that he could train even when it was closed. “It would make me sick to miss a workout… I knew I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror the next morning if I didn’t do it.”

Schwarzenegger said he suffered what “would now be called child abuse” at the hands of his father: “My hair was pulled. I was hit with belts. So was the kid next door. It was just the way it was. Many of the children I’ve seen were broken by their parents, which was the German-Austrian mentality. They didn’t want to create an individual. It was all about conforming. I was one who did not conform, and whose will could not be broken. Therefore, I became a rebel. Every time I got hit, and every time someone said, ‘You can’t do this,’ I said, ‘This is not going to be for much longer because I’m going to move out of here. I want to be rich. I want to be somebody.'”

Schwarzenegger served in the Austrian Army in 1965 to fulfill the one year of service required at the time of all 18-year-old Austrian males. During his army service, he won the Junior Mr. Europe contest. He went AWOL during basic training so he could take part in the competition and then spent a week in military prison: “Participating in the competition meant so much to me that I didn’t carefully think through the consequences,” he said.

Charles “Wag” Bennett, one of the judges at the 1966 competition, was impressed with Schwarzenegger and he offered to coach him. As Schwarzenegger had little money, Bennett invited him to stay in his crowded family home above one of his two gyms in Forest Gate, London. Schwarzenegger, under a training program devised by Bennett, concentrated on improving the muscle definition and power in his legs. Staying in the East End of London helped Schwarzenegger improve his rudimentary grasp of the English language. Living with the Bennetts also changed him as a person: “Being with them made me so much more sophisticated. When you’re the age I was then, you’re always looking for approval, for love, for attention and also for guidance. At the time, I wasn’t really aware of that. But now, looking back, I see that the Bennett family fulfilled all those needs. Especially my need to be the best in the world. To be recognized and to feel unique and special. They saw that I needed that care and attention and love.”

The training paid off and, in 1967, Schwarzenegger won the title for the first time, becoming the youngest ever Mr. Universe at the age of 20. He would go on to win the title a further three times. Schwarzenegger then flew back to Munich, where he attended a business school and worked in a health club (Rolf Putziger’s gym, where he worked and trained from 1966 to 1968), returning in 1968 to London to win his next Mr. Universe title. He frequently told Roger C. Field, his English coach and friend in Munich at that time, “I’m going to become the greatest actor!”

Schwarzenegger, who dreamed of moving to the U.S. since the age of 10, and saw bodybuilding as the avenue through which to do so, realized his dream by moving to the United States in October 1968 at the age of 21, speaking little English. There he trained at Gold’s Gym in Venice, Los Angeles, California, under Joe Weider’s supervision. In 1970, at age 23, he captured his first Mr. Olympia title in New York, and would go on to win the title a total of seven times.

The immigration law firm Siskind & Susser stated that Schwarzenegger may have been an illegal immigrant at some point in the late 1960s or early 1970s because of violations in the terms of his visa. LA Weekly would later say in 2002 that Schwarzenegger is the most famous immigrant in America, who “overcame a thick Austrian accent and transcended the unlikely background of bodybuilding to become the biggest movie star in the world in the 1990s”. He became the 38th Governor of Carlifonia serving in office for eight years from November 17, 2003 to January 3, 2011.

He said he believes in what Nelson Mandela said, that, “everything always seems impossible until it’s done”. He recounts how he was touched by the generosity of people in America when he arrived as a young and poor immigrant without family support. They helped him with blankets, pots, plates, food and all they could. He said he would go to college, work out five hours a day, and go to work in construction because in those days there was no money in body building and so he had no money for food supplements or anything, so he had to go work in construction, and at night from 8 to 12 midnight he would go to acting class for 4 days a week.

Listen to his inspiring words shared here..

About The Author

Desmond Mapfumo is a Mindset Coach, Startup Builder and Consultant. He is the Founder and Contributing Editor For Inspiration Media Publications. Inspiration Media is member of the Rebirth Group, which he also founded and leads as the Chief Executive Officer.