Arnold Schwarzenegger's Goals

Arnold Schwarzenegger is a great example of going after something despite what well-intentioned people might say.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was from a small village in Austria. His dream was to come to America and become a body building champion. His parents thought he was crazy. They wanted him to take after his dad and become a police officer. But Arnold said "I don't want to be a police offer or bouncer or things of that nature." Even his friends didn't think it was a good idea. They said "If you want to be a champion in a sport, why don't you go and become a bicycle champion or a skiing champion or a soccer champion? Those are the Austrian sports."

But Arnold has his heart set on becoming a body builder in America and he did it! He was awarded the title of Mr. Universe and went on to win Mr. Olympia's contest seven times.

Then he decided to go into acting. An agent said he didn't have a chance. The agent said "Look at your body. You have this huge monstrous body, overly developed. That doesn't fit into the movies. And no one ever became a star with an accent like that. And forget about ever seeing a named like 'Arnold Schwarzenegger' anywhere." Basically they said, his body didn't fit on the screen and his name didn't fit on the marquee. But he knew that goal was right for him and eventually proved them all wrong and starred in Terminator 1, 2 and 3, Kindergarten Cop, Twins and many other films.

Now those people were well intentioned and thought they were doing him a favor. They didn't want to see him fail. But he was convinced his goal was right for him and eventually convinced others as well.