37 pages • 1 hour read
Arnold SchwarzeneggerBe Useful: Seven Tools for Life
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Introduction-Chapter 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Introduction Summary
Arnold Schwarzenegger opens the book by acknowledging his personal struggles during the 2000s and 2010s: dealing with the global financial crisis as California’s governor in 2008, setbacks in both his bodybuilding and film careers, and the scandal that ended his marriage in 2011. He goes on to describe his process of climbing back up by continuing his work in fitness, entertainment, and philanthropy. He also adds “self-help guy” to his list of job titles; people began circulating his motivational speeches and posts on social media, and Schwarzenegger leaned into his new role as a source of inspiration, wisdom, and positivity for others.
Schwarzenegger found it surprising that so many people were looking to him for wisdom, and he analyzes why this might have happened. He notes that many people were “really miserable”—despite the data that shows that there is less war, disease, poverty, and oppression than at any other time in human history, rates of mental health struggles are consistently rising, and people report feelings of hopelessness and low self-worth. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these negative feelings. Schwarzenegger cites specific data regarding mental health rates in the years since the pandemic began. Worldwide, rates of depression and anxiety have increased 25% since 2020. Depression rates among US adults tripled between 2018 and spring 2020. By April 2020, fewer than half of American adults reported feeling no symptoms of depression, compared to 75% before the lockdowns. Schwarzenegger also notes the widespread negativity exacerbated by institutions and industries that capitalize on people’s negative emotions “for profit and political gain” (xvi).
He cites these factors as reasons why people flock to motivational content such as his own. His advice and encouragement are drawn from his experience and the tools he has used to build successful careers and recover from his low point in 2011. He claims these tools are a “road map to a happy, successful, useful life” (xvii).
The book’s title, Be Useful, comes from a piece of advice given to Schwarzenegger by his late father. The author acknowledges that everyone will have a different idea about what it means to be useful. He wrote this book to honor his father’s words and hopes that readers will use the tools therein to build successful lives and be useful in their own ways.
Chapter 1 Summary: “Have a Clear Vision”
Schwarzenegger begins by acknowledging that many people are unhealthy, unhappy, and feeling helpless about where they are in life. This, he asserts, results from a lack of clear vision. He defines vision as having “a picture of what you want your life to look like and a plan for how to get there” (4), and he notes that without vision, people feel lost and unknowingly make decisions that lead them to unhappy situations. He remarks that many people feel as if they lack control over their lives and choices, as though life simply “happen[s]” to them.
The author acknowledges that people do not have a choice in their upbringing or circumstances, citing his own “complicated” upbringing as an example: He was born in a small Austrian village during the Cold War, to a father who was often physically abusive. Although people cannot choose where they start in life, he asserts that they can choose where to go from there. He stresses the importance of personal choices, and having a clear vision helps people make choices that are better aligned with their goals and their ideal futures.
He discusses one way to build a clear vision, citing his own experience: starting with a broad image and zooming in. Schwarzenegger’s earliest dreams were about coming to America—nothing more specific than that. The strongest visions, he says, can often emerge from following one’s childhood obsessions. He points to other famous examples: Tiger Woods began golfing at two years old, Venus and Serena Williams were passionate about tennis as children, and Stephen Spielberg discovered moviemaking at a young age. Their more specific ambitions crystallized later but stemmed from these early interests. Zooming in from here gives a vision focus and direction. Schwarzenegger’s plan to come to America took shape around bodybuilding. He was motivated by images of champions like Reg Park, an English bodybuilder and actor whose films inspired Schwarzenegger’s early athletic and artistic dreams.
Schwarzenegger encourages the reader to find time and space to get inspired and discover their vision. He advises starting by setting small goals—first daily, then weekly and monthly goals—to develop a rhythm and dissolve the sense of “uselessness” they may be feeling. The next step is to allow time and space for the discovery process. Schwarzenegger cites walking as one example of an activity that helps with problem-solving and generating ideas. His speech following the January 6 riots at the US Capitol building and his vision for using his social media presence for good came as a result of making time and space for inspiration to flow in.
Next, Schwarzenegger discusses the importance of visualizing and having a clear, specific mental image of what success looks like. Athletes are especially adept at visualizing their goals, and Schwarzenegger asserts he could clearly “see” the goals he wanted to accomplish before he accomplished them. It is also important to clearly define what success does not look like, which means not settling for less than what one visualizes.
Finally, the author encourages readers to “look in the mirror” (32)—that is, check in with themselves and their progress to ensure they are on the right track. These check-ins can also help one remain self-aware on the path to success and avoid becoming selfish or too self-focused.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Never Think Small”
Chapter 2 discusses the importance of fully committing to a vision. He begins with the example of his movie career; after shooting eight action films, his goal evolved from being an action star to becoming the top-paid actor in Hollywood. His transition from action movies into comedy, a transition that many industry “naysayers” were certain would fail, illustrates the importance of committing to and believing in one’s vision and goals. He cites another example of filmmaker James Cameron, with whom he shares a 40-year friendship, for “his ability to go all in on his projects” (46). Schwarzenegger sums this up with a German phrase: “Wenn schon, denn schon,” which he roughly translates as: “If you’re going to do something, DO IT. Go all out” (46). Cameron takes to his filmmaking with exacting detail, and because of his commitment to his vision, he has produced two of the most ambitious and commercially successful films of all time: Titanic (1997) and Avatar (2009). Schwarzenegger encourages readers to chase their goals with the same level of commitment and push themselves to dream big rather than settle for smaller goals.
He next discusses dealing with “naysayers” and rejection and stresses the importance of persevering in the face of skepticism. Naysayers, he says, are inevitable, and the reader should ignore their criticisms or use their doubt as motivation to fuel them toward their goals. Schwarzenegger also discourages having a backup plan, claiming that a Plan B is “dangerous to every dream” (64); it represents the path of least resistance and makes it easier for one to give up on their true goals when the work becomes difficult. By having a backup plan, he argues, one minimizes their dreams and gives in to doubt and uncertainty.
Lastly, Schwarzenegger says that fulfilling a dream leads to even more success; it shows people what they are capable of and gives them the confidence to accomplish even greater feats. Additionally, it paves the way for others to succeed by demonstrating what is possible.
Introduction-Chapter 2 Analysis
Given that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a well-known public figure—a champion bodybuilder, top-paid actor, and former governor of California—his accomplishments need no introduction. Instead, Schwarzenegger chooses to open his book by discussing some of his professional and personal failures. In starting his book on a note of vulnerability before remarking on his successes, he makes himself and his advice accessible and relatable to a general audience, building ethos. For Schwarzenegger, discussing these failures—including embarrassments like scandals, which most people would prefer others forget—is meant to emphasize that he is human and that his methods for achieving goals can be used by anyone. Discussing how he took accountability for his mistakes and turned these negative situations around as he transitioned into a new chapter in his life—a chapter in which he largely dedicates himself to helping others improve their own lives—also introduces two of the book’s core themes: Resilience in the Face of Failure and Adversity and Committing to Others and Giving Back.
He especially emphasizes the latter theme as he echoes his father’s advice to “be useful” and be of service to others. As this adage is also the book’s title, Schwarzenegger makes it clear that his self-help guide is not just about personal ambition alone but how those ambitions can serve a higher purpose and improve the lives of others. This subverts certain types of self-help narratives that emphasize the self above all else—for Schwarzenegger, personal success is meaningless if it only serves one’s self. While acknowledging that everyone will have a different definition of what it means to be useful, Schwarzenegger passes on his father’s advice and his own tools in the hopes that readers will use them to build purposeful lives and eventually give back to others. He asserts that one person’s success paves the way for others to succeed, just as his success in the American bodybuilding and film industries “opened the door to America” for other immigrants (68). Published shortly after the outbreak of COVID-19 and increasing political division in the United States, the adage “be useful” thus lays out Schwarzenegger’s vision for an America where people work together to improve themselves and their society.
Chapter 1: “Have a Clear Vision” details the first step toward finding this sense of purpose in one’s life and introduces the book’s third central theme: The Importance of Having a Clear Vision. This idea of “vision” will serve as a guiding concept for the rest of the book, and the opening chapters discuss how to develop that vision and take the first steps toward realizing it. A lack of vision, Schwarzenegger says, is a core reason for many people’s mental health struggles and the troubling rates of anxiety and depression in the general population—without this guiding vision, people become aimless and make choices that are out of alignment with what they truly desire. He cites statistics and figures to support these claims, building logos in the text. Schwarzenegger emphasizes that vision is a stabilizing force, something to measure one’s choices against to ensure they are on the right path toward a meaningful life. Vision is also a tool for self-reflection and personal responsibility, as having a clear picture of what “success” looks like allows a person to see where they are falling short or settling for less. Schwarzenegger challenges the reader to get specific about the goal they want to accomplish, frequently using the second person to issue these challenges directly to the reader. He cites his own larger-than-life ambitions—to escape his small Austrian village and come to America—as examples of what is possible with a clear vision and a plan to make that vision a reality. In some passages, he switches to first-person plural, using “we” and “our” to demonstrate his belief that his readers are capable of the same success he has achieved.
In Chapter 2, Schwarzenegger builds on the idea of vision by encouraging readers not to settle, pushing them to set lofty, ambitious goals. In encouraging the reader to go “all in,” Schwarzenegger promotes the idea that one should strive for excellence in any endeavor rather than settle for “good enough,” incorporating a mindset borrowed from his time as a professional athlete. Only by thinking big, Schwarzenegger says, can someone discover what they are truly capable of. Along with reaching for excellence and setting ambitious goals, going “all in” also includes protecting one’s vision from “naysayers” and external criticism, as well as self-imposed doubts and limitations. Both internal and external critics are detrimental to pursuing ambitious goals like the ones Schwarzenegger accomplished. While Schwarzenegger uses encouraging language to validate readers’ goals and dreams, he also uses blunt, direct statements to challenge readers, saying, “[I]f I can do what I did, why can’t you?” (69). For him, Resilience in the Face of Failure and Adversity is the key to accomplishing any worthy goal.
In these opening chapters, Arnold Schwarzenegger establishes his credibility as an advice giver and encourages readers to push past feelings of helplessness, aimlessness, and defeat and take the first steps toward creating meaning and purpose in their lives. Using a blend of personal anecdotes and frank, direct, and practical advice, Schwarzenegger lays out some of his tools for ideation, self-esteem, and confidence, all of which are needed to reach one’s goals.
