“Adversity causes some people to break, and other people to break records.” — Anon
The Governator
I think one of the most powerful motivations in my life is when someone tells me that I can’t do something.
In his autobiography, Total Recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger puts it this way:
Sometimes you have to appreciate the very people and circumstances that traumatized you. Today I hail the strictness of my father, and my whole upbringing, and the fact that I didn’t have anything that I wanted in Austria, because those were the very factors that made me hungry.
Every time he hit me. Every time he said my weight training was garbage, that I should do something useful and go out and chop wood. Every time he disapproved of me or embarrassed me, it put fuel on the fire in my belly. It drove me and motivated me.
What strikes me, is that it wasn’t the fact that Arnold was tormented that made him into the over-achieving force of nature that he became (warts and all), it was the the way that he used that ordeal as motivation to reach his goals.
Arnold’s motivational story:
My favorite blog articles for the week:
- Best Will Smith Quotes at Fealessmen.com
- Seasonal Safety Tips for Fireplaces and Chimneys at Louisville Gals.com
- College Loan Consolidation Advice In A Debt Laden World at Untemplater.com
- How are Your Soft Skills? atKrantCents.com
- First Steps to Investing in the Stock Market at Frugal Rules
- 5 Family Activities I’m looking forward to this Winter at Frugal Habits
- Is Debt Consolidation an Opportunity – or a Trap? at WorkSaveLive
- The Celebrate Like Scrooge Christmas Gift Exchange at Canadian Budget Binder
- What Will the Fiscal Cliff Mean to Health Care? at Eyes on the Dollar
- Paying For Self Employment Income Tax Year Round at Modest Money
- What Does $1 Mean To You? at I heart budgets
- 12 Super Awkward Money Moments at Your Savings Angels
- My Plan for Early Retirement at Outlier Model
