Be Useful

Seven Tools for Life

By: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Narrated by: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Length: 6 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The seven rules to follow to realize your true purpose in life—distilled by Arnold Schwarzenegger from his own journey of ceaseless reinvention and extraordinary achievement, and available for absolutely anyone.

The world’s greatest bodybuilder. The world’s highest-paid movie star. The leader of the world’s sixth-largest economy. That these are the same person sounds like the setup to a joke, but this is no joke. This is Arnold Schwarzenegger. And this did not happen by accident.

Arnold’s stratospheric success happened as part of a process. As the result of clear vision, big thinking, hard work, direct communication, resilient problem-solving, open-minded curiosity, and a commitment to giving back. All of it guided by the one lesson Arnold’s father hammered into him above all: be useful. As Arnold conquered every realm he entered, he kept his father’s adage close to his heart.

Written with his uniquely earnest, blunt, powerful voice, Be Useful takes readers on an inspirational tour through Arnold’s tool kit for a meaningful life. He shows us how to put those tools to work, in service of whatever fulfilling future we can dream up for ourselves. He brings his insights to vivid life with compelling personal stories, life-changing successes and life-threatening failures alike—some of them famous; some told here for the first time ever.

Too many of us struggle to disconnect from our self-pity and connect to our purpose. At an early age, Arnold forged the mental tools to build the ladder out of the poverty and narrow-mindedness of his rural Austrian hometown, tools he used to add rung after rung from there. Now he shares that wisdom with all of us. As he puts it, no one is going to come rescue you—you only have yourself. The good news, it turns out, is that you are all you need.

©2023 Arnold Schwarzenegger (P)2023 Penguin Audio

A simple and realistic inspirational book

This book is simple. No nonsense. No bullshit. Straight from the heart. Full of examples, lessons learned and wise words of wisdom. Arnold speaks for experience. He speaks from his illustrious track record of successes AND FAILURES. Through his book he teaches us HOW to be humble, how to LEARN FROM FAILURE, and how to make life purposeful and meaningful. Fantastic book! I highly recommend it to anyone curious enough to learn about how to live a better, more productive and USEFUL LIFE. Thanks Arnold for sharing your story and your wisdom.

Inspirational

Very good storyline. Basic, but strong principles. Arnold’s narration is superb and connects well with the listener.

Arnold Does It Again

I loved Arnold’s biography and I wasn’t sure how many more new nuggets of wisdom he might be able to share, but I was wrong. So happy I invested the time and money in this book. I believe it’s always time well-spent to listen to accomplished people, but especially to accomplished people in varied arenas. Thank you to Arnold and his team for bringing something positive and concise (not 50 pages to make one simple point to fill space—no filler!) to all of us.

Great, inspired writing.

I really enjoyed this book. It's made even better because it's read by Arnold himself. I enjoyed it enough that after listening to the audiobook I bought a physical copy for my collection as well.

Listen to this book if you want to be inspired on your journey. The book has influenced me to never give up, or in the words of the author, always say "I'll be back!"

Wow!!!

So inspiring!
Greatest body builder of all time
Great action star
Great leading man
Great comedic talent
Married a Kennedy
Governor of a state he can’t even pronounce.
Author and the list goes on.
How many lifetime would it take the average fat American to accomplish even one of those things
“A GREAT MAN”

Must Read

One of the best audio books I've ever listened to. Great perspective and life lessons. Thank you, Arnold!

Great if you didn’t read Total Recall

I love Arnold and was very excited to read this book with my ears. It was a good self help book with stories of Arnold life of overcoming difficulties and pushing forward. The issue I had is that I already heard all of this in Total Recall so it made it difficult to be surprised by any of the stories. Great book if you didn’t read Total Recall

Incredible story.

Arnold’s life story is amazing to listen to and helps put in context his life lessons. It felt like he was sitting across from me and personally telling me about his life and what he learned. This is definitely a book/audio I’ll be giving to people for their personal development and to pay it forward.

Lots of great insight

Lots of great insight. Loved his personal stories that tied his points together. Would read again.

Great advice that lands well

This book doesn’t have a lot of ‘original’ advice, yet it’s one of my favorite audiobooks I’ve bought. His words and narration has a way of communicating principles that I’ve read in other books that sink in more deeply and are expressed in a way that are motivating.