There is no better example of a champion’s mindset than that of the legendary bodybuilder, Arnold Schwarzenegger. His first published book, Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder is one of the most motivating books I have ever read, and I have read it many times over.
My last experience was on a cruise ship sailing through the Caribbean islands. I purposely took the book with me because I wanted to read something that would keep me motivated and hungry, staying keen to the idea of physicality in an environment keen to the idea of excess.
The thing about cruise ships is that they are fertile grounds for the mediocre and are essentially full of those lost souls that have all but ceded to a life of absolute emptiness. Many are old, at the twilight of their lives, but many are young, hellbent on endless hedonistic pursuits.
Carrying Arnold’s book helped to keep me focused because Arnold was perhaps the most focused person that anyone could ever read about. Even at a young age, he maintained a steadfast vision for greatness:
I knew I was going to be a bodybuilder. It wasn’t simply that either. I would be the best bodybuilder in the world, the greatest, the best-built man. – Arnold Schwarzenegger