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”

Loved it!

Arnold is one of my heros, it was great that he decided to share all this wisdom from his extraordinary life.

Great read!

I truly enjoyed his life story and how his circumstances were used to make him a better person. Very insight! This is a great read!

Must Read

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

Great book!

Glad he read this himself since it’s such a personal story! Always good to hear how people build up to major success! Happy he shared the credit too!!

A good read

This is a straightforward and clear read about the lessons learned over a very productive lifetime. It is worth the time.