Hard Work and Determination Pays off 

      by Arnold Schwarzenegger

I started way back as a weightlifter. From the first moment when I gripped a barbell and lifted the steel up over my head, I felt this was exhilaration, and I knew then that this was something that I was gonna do.

I remember the very first real workout that I had. Eight miles away from my home village in Austria there was a gymnasium, and I rode to that gymnasium with a bicycle. And there I trained for half an hour; they said that after half an hour you should stop because otherwise your body will get really sore. But after half an hour I looked at my body, and nothing had happened. So I said, “I’d better work out for another half hour.” So I lifted some more. My strength didn’t improve, I didn’t see the muscles pop out or anything like that, so I trained for another half an hour. And then after another half hour I trained another half hour, and all together I’d trained (for) two and a half hours.

After that, I rode my bicycle home. And after the first mile I got numb, and I couldn’t feel anymore the handles of the bicycle, and I fell off the bike and I fell into the ditch at the side of the road.

The next morning when I got up, my body was so sore that I couldn’t even lift my arms to comb my hair. I had to have my mother comb my hair, and you know how embarrassing that is. But you know something? I learned a very important lesson, that pain means progress. Pain is progress.

After two or three years of discipline and determination and working out hard, I actually changed my body, and I changed my strength. And that told me something, that if I could change my body that much, then I could also change anything else. I could change my habits, my intelligence, my attitude, my mind, my future, my life. And this is exactly what I’ve done. I think that lesson applies to people, and it also applies to countries. You can change, China can change, everyone in the world can change.

I remember the first time I went to the United States and I was competing in the World Championships in Bodybuilding. I lost and I was devastated. I felt like a loser, a major loser. I cried, as a matter of fact, because I felt like I disappointed my friends and I disappointed myself. But the next day I got my act together, I shifted gears, and I said, “I’m going to learn from that lesson.” And from then on, I continued.

My career took off, and everything that I wanted to do I accomplished. First it was to become a champion in bodybuilding. Later on I became a movie star, then I became the governor of the great state of California, of the sixth largest economy in the world.

All of this happened because of my dreams, even though other people told me that those dreams were bogus and they were crazy, but I held onto my dreams. In Hollywood, they said, “You will never make it. You have a German accent. No one in Hollywood has ever made it with a German accent. Yeah, maybe you can play some Nazi roles or something like that, but you cannot become a leading star with an accent. Plus your body, you’re overdeveloped, you have all these muscles. They did Hercules movies 20 years ago, that’s outdated. And your name, Schwarzenegger, it will never fit on a movie poster. Forget it, you will never make it. Go back to body building.”

Well, the rest is history. After Terminator 3, I became the highest paid movie star in Hollywood. And, let me tell you something, it continued on. Even when I ran for governor people said, “Arnold, you will never become governor of California. What do you know about government?” Well, I continued campaigning. I listened to my dreams, and the rest also is history. I became governor. So always it just carried me on, those dreams. So bodybuilding gave me the confidence, movies gave me the money, and public service and being a governor gave me a purpose larger than myself.

我出道时是个举重运动员。自从第一次抓紧杠铃、将其高高举过头顶之际，我就为此感到异常兴奋。那时我知道，这就是我将来要做的事情。

我还记得最初那次真正的训练。当时我骑着自行车前往一家健身房，那儿离我家所在的奥地利小村庄有八英里之遥。在那里我训练了半个钟头，因为他们说训练必须半小时一停，否则你会全身酸痛。后来我看看自己的身体，啥事没有！于是我说，“最好再练半小时吧。”就又多举了几下。可是力量并未因此增强，也不见肌肉鼓起来。然后我又练了半小时，再加半小时……结果总共练了两个半小时。

后来，我骑车回家了。刚走一英里，我顿觉四肢麻木，连车把都感觉不到了，结果整个人从车上摔下来，掉进了路边的水沟里。第二天早上起床，我浑身酸痛，连举手梳头都无能为力，只好叫我母亲替我梳头——这真令人难堪！可你知道吗，我获得了非常重要的一次教训，即：要想进步就得吃苦。

经过两三年意志上的磨练和体力上的锻炼，我确实改造了自己的身体，气力也变大了。这件事告诉我，如果能大大地改变身体，我就能改变一切：我能改变习惯，改变智力，改变态度，改变思想，改变未来，改变人生。事实上我已经做到了。我想这一教训适用于人，也适用于国家。你能改变，中国能改变，世界上每个人都能变。

我还记得第一次到美国参加世界健美锦标赛。当时我输了，绝望无比。我就像一个败者，一个遭受惨败的人。我哭了，事实上因为我感到让朋友失望了，也让自己失望了。但第二天，我重振旗鼓，改变了态度，并对自己说，“我要吸取教训。”从那时起，我不断努力，事业从此辉煌腾达，我实现了自己想做的一切——首先成为健美冠军，接着成为电影明星，后来当上了世界第六大经济体——加利福尼亚州的州长。

这一切的实现都是因为我的梦想，即使别人说我的那些梦想都是虚伪而荒唐的，但是我仍坚持不弃。在好莱坞，他们曾说，“你决不可能成功，你一口德国音。在好莱坞还没有一个说话带德国音的人能成功的。饰演一些纳粹角色你倒是可以，但有口音的人想成为主角是不可能的。还有你的体形，一身肌肉，太过发达了！二十前他们是拍过大力士的影片，不过早过时了。还有你的名字，施瓦辛格，根本不适合上电影海报。算了，你不会成功的。还是回去搞你的健美运动去吧！”

其余的都成了往事。演完《终结者III》之后，我便成为好莱坞片酬最高的明星。但外界的质疑从未中断过。我竞选州长时还有人说，“阿诺，你永远当不上加州州长。你也懂政治？”而我依然参加了竞选。我相信自己的梦想，其余的都已成昨日黄花。我最终当上了州长。因此，那些梦想总引导着我不断向前——健美运动给了我信心，电影给了我财富，而公共服务以及当州长给了我更大的决心。