Book: Be Useful by Arnold Schwarzenegger

It is hard at first. But do you know what’s harder? Living a life you hate. That’s hard. This, by comparison, is a walk in the park. One book I keep recommending to everyone is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s autobiography. What I love about Arnold is how human he is – caring, thoughtful, whimsical, and refreshingly honest about his mistakes. “Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life” is his attempt to compile the same lessons into a more organized structure, built around the idea of being genuinely useful to other people instead of coasting through life. Total Recall I happened to read Arnold’s autobiography – Total Recall – long ago. I recommend it without hesitation, mostly for the hilarious anecdotes. “Be Useful” extracts the lessons; “Total Recall” gives you the stories that made the lessons stick. A few things that stuck with me: Arnold was, first and foremost, a businessman and a salesman. He made a fortune in real estate well before his film career took off. On “Twins” with Danny DeVito, he…