MCC #60 – 16 Jun 2023

Welcome to My Creative Calling!

You’re on a path in this journey called “life”.

Whether you like to admit it or not.

Do you know where you’re heading?

Are you happy with that direction?

Some like to plan it all out. Others like to roll with luck.

Some believe our fate is set in stone. Others believe we shape our destiny.

But really, most people are too busy living out their days to ponder such questions. 

Tony Robbins famously says: 

Life doesn’t happen to you.

It happens for you.

But I want to challenge you today that you can sway things in the direction you desire.

You don’t have to accept the status quo.

The problem is you haven’t thought hard enough about where you want to go.

Instead, you bury yourself with busyness.

“I don’t have time.”

But do you know where this leads?

Nowhere.

Well, it does go “somewhere”.

But it may be a long, long way away from what you truly desire.

I’ll give you a little example.

I naively started a career in accounting.

I convinced myself, “It’s a good job. It pays well.”

And it was.

But was it what I wanted?

No.

I longed for creative work and was passionate about personal growth. I wanted to help people through coaching and writing.

So why the hell was I doing accounting?

Because I had no plan.

I was winging it.

Taking the easy route.

And look where that led me — about as far away as I could get from what I truly desired.

I always admired people with the courage to declare what they wanted and boldly go after it!

But one day, I declared I was done with living vicariously through others. I had to start acting on my dreams before my time ran out. 

So my friend.

Today I’m going to share with you an inspiring story.

One of someone you probably feel like you know.

They turned their life around from a difficult post-war upbringing, to reaching the pinnacles of success and mega-stardom.

How did they do that?

They had a powerful vision.

A crystal clear vision.

And a fire in the belly that drove them to work relentlessly on making that dream a reality. 

They followed their version of a creative calling.

And so, I challenge you today to start crafting your vision.

What are you working toward?

What would excite that “fire in the belly” for you?

It’s time to stop hiding and start building. 

Where to begin?

I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about this week.

I was exhausted and crashed down on the couch.

My wife had already gone to bed, so this was my opportunity to watch a show more indulgent to my interests.

I turned on the TV and opened Netflix.

What random show popped up on my screen?

ARNOLD

Ok, so I had to watch his.

As a male child born in the 80s, I was a massive Arnold Schwarzenegger fan back in the day.

I loved action movies as a kid.

I couldn’t get enough.

All that thrilling action was some kind of escape for me from my simple life growing up on a farm in country South Australia.

And who was my favourite action hero back then?

Arnold Schwarzenegger 

You’d find me glued to the couch whenever his movies graced the TV screen. 

There was no streaming or Netflix back then.

Not even DVDs.

So I would scan the TV guides in the newspaper and look for any Arnie flicks upcoming on free-to-air TV.

• Terminator
• Terminator 2
• Predator
• Commando
• True Lies
• Etc

I couldn’t get enough of those.

Then I would talk endlessly about them on the school bus with my friends.

And we would play out action scenes in the park and at lunchtime.

I could watch those same movies over and over again. This seems funny, as now I rarely watch the same movie twice. I guess that’s a consequence of the digital overload now, where we are spoilt for choice.

Anyway, I randomly started the Netflix documentary series on Arnold, and instantly I was hooked.

I never thought I would be writing about it here.

But I was quickly struck by how fascinating Arnold’s life is in how he unbelievably managed to transition from one success to another:

• From a small farm town in Austria
• To conquer the bodybuilding world
• To become a millionaire from real estate investments BEFORE making it in Hollywood.
• To becoming the once highest-paid movie star and the biggest celebrity in the world
• And just because that all wasn’t enough — becoming the governor of California, the ~5^th largest economy in the world.

But he has also faced many challenges and failures in his business and personal life.

And so, I wanted to share some lessons relevant to us here.

Arnold’s story is the story of one following his creative calling.

Except it wasn’t your typical creative calling.

No, his creativity was in crafting the perfect body (and later acting). 

And he felt called to move to the USA and become the best in the world.

The exciting thing about Arnold’s calling was that it evolved. It just goes to show that it doesn’t stop—that hunger to keep growing continues.

So what did he do when he mastered one domain?

Rest on his laurels?

He had competed for about ten years and won 13 world titles.

What was he going to do, win another one?

“Boring”, as Arnold said.

No, he could hear another calling beckoning him.

What was that?

To be a Hollywood actor.

Well, not just an actor.

He wanted to be a star. The best in the world!

And what do you know?

He achieved that.

So what did he do then?

Kick back resting on his millions?

Or churn out movie after movie as a washed-up star, past his prime?

No, he set his eyes on the next prize that called him:

Governor of California.

He wanted to give back to the country that made him and serve the people of California. 

Are you excited? I am.

Let’s get into it:

The power of having a vision

My whole life, I had this unusual talent in that I could see things very clearly in front of me. 

If I can see it, then it must be achievable.

The idea was to sculpt the body to your will.

But it also can be used to shape your mind, to do the things that everyone calls impossible.

And that gives you the will… And no doubt, that you can make your visions, not only become a reality, but go beyond your dreams.

I had a fire in the belly for much more.

For much, much more.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

My biggest takeaway from the story of Arnold was the power of his vision.

He visualised exactly what he wanted.

He went for it — determinedly grinding away for years, working on his craft to become the best in the world.

And he achieved it!

It makes me realise how I need to take visualising more seriously.

But where does that vision begin?

You know you don’t belong

Here’s a younger Arnold speaking on leaving Austria:

When I was in school already, I felt like I didn’t belong here.

I belonged somewhere else.

That’s not the life I want to live, like the Austrians live their life, which is, you know, go to school until 18 and get married, have kids. Just work to support your family. 

I thought that my purpose for life was just far beyond that.

Have you ever had that feeling where you know you don’t belong in the place where you are?

You know you’re destined for something more!

Arnold’s words here remind me of my childhood upbringing.

I grew up on a farm, isolated in the country. I didn’t know anything about big cities. Paddocks of wheat and barley surrounded me. Then throw in a few sheep, cattle, and the revving of trucks and tractors. 

And there is a standard template in most farming families. The sons follow in their father’s footsteps and take over the family farm. They, too, are destined to become farmers. 

But I always knew I wasn’t a farmer.

And I didn’t want to become one.

No, I was seeking a way out.

Now, you probably weren’t a farmer. But I am sure you’ve faced some kind of pressure like that. Maybe you had to conform to some family norms? Put your dreams on hold.

But you knew it wasn’t for you.

It felt like a trap.

Boring.

No, you wanted something more.

Maybe you, too, have some fire in the belly like Arnold.

But it’s hard when you are in the thick of it. It’s hard to plot a way out. It’s not as easy as it looks to swim against the tide and break the status quo.

So how do you break out?

You need to see what’s possible.

How did Arnold find this possibility?

He was in a nearby city, Graz, and stumbled upon an advertisement for a new Hercules movie.

Arnold was awestruck as he gazed upon the body of the leading star, Reg Park. 

Now Reg happened to be a bodybuilder and Mr Universe champion.

Arnold’s jaw dropped:

This fascination with the body and stardom of Reg Park grew and grew.

A vision appeared in Arnold’s mind — He could work out, build his body, become a champion, move to America and become a movie star.

He now had his plan.

This struck me as the power of having idols or heroes — those we want to be like. It’s incredible how we can study their biography and draw a motivating power and mentorship.

One of the great things about studying your heroes is that it sparks the flame of possibility in your mind. You see, those superstars like Arnold came from humble and tough beginnings. 

Arnold was in post-World War 2 Austria. The country had just lost the war, and morale was low. It was depressing. His parents struggled to survive. They had little money. 

This makes the story of success all the more sweeter — that some poor little boy from an Austrian farming town could become a world champion and then take over Hollywood and later govern the biggest economic state in America.

It sounds wild, right?

But these stories are fuel for us.

We can see the possibility.

Just like Arnold did, he became a fanatic about his hero Reg Park. Like you with your childhood heroes — posters on your walls, magazines featuring them, and constantly rewatching their movies — you devoured everything you could on them. Well, Arnold even took it a step further. He even hunted down Reg’s workout routine and implemented it immediately. 

But looking into Reg’s backstory, Arnold found something cool, a similarity — Reg was also a small-town boy like Arnold, raised in a difficult time.

Reg was raised in Leeds, an industrial city in northern England. And times were tough back then.

Arnold wondered, what were the chances Reg could break away from the not-so-bright destiny laid before him and carve his own path to mega-stardom.

I bet they were small odds.

But he did it.

And that showed Arnold that it was possible.

And so he became determined to follow in Reg’s footsteps.

Arnold thought, “If Reg can get out of Leeds, then I can get out of Graz.”

So he doggedly started searching for any opportunity to get out. And he kept building out that powerful vision.

Arnold would work out in silence in his room, daydreaming of his future success:

I saw my career in front of me.

I saw myself on that Mr Universe stage.

I just had to replace Reg Park’s head, put my head on it, and stand there with the trophy and flex my muscles.

And I saw the thousands of people in the auditorium, in the theatre, screaming, “Arnold! Arnold! Arnold!”

Arnold Schwarzenegger

I think this highlights a gap in today’s society. I get the feeling not many people allow themselves to dream on this scale. Sure, they may entertain little thoughts like one day winning the lottery, or getting a big promotion at work. But how many have a powerful vision like Arnold — one with crystal clarity? I’m talking about a vision that pushes them to the limits of human potential. And then they execute towards it.

No, most people have no idea what they want. 

It’s vague.

And so they never really get anywhere.

Hell, I am guilty of this.

I had no idea what I wanted for most of my adult life.

And so I was just drifting.

And where did that take me?

Through a string of accounting and finance jobs.

Is that what I really wanted?

No.

As Zig said, “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.”

Start taking the vision of your future self seriously.

And what else is important about a vision?

What you aim at determines what you see. 

Jordan B. Peterson

That’s true.

When our mind focuses on something, we see opportunities and possibilities we didn’t know were there.

When I was a kid, we would travel to our grandparents at Christmas time. The whole family of five jammed into the car for four hours with all our luggage.

Naturally, with three young kids on a long drive, it was only a matter of time before the fighting began. Always two against one. And it would always end in tears.

To stop the fighting, our parents would encourage a game. You each pick a colour, and then you count the cars of that colour. Whoever has the highest count by the next stop wins.

White cars always won. So we would exclude them.

But I was shocked at how many other colour cars there were when you actually looked for them.

Heaps of red, yellow and green.

Who knew so many existed?

The lesson here?

What you focus on matters. When you have a clear goal or a vision, your brain quite happily gets to work looking for ways to bring it to life.

And so you start seeing things you didn’t know were possible.

We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realise.

Thich Nhat Hanh

You see opportunities that weren’t previously there.

And those opportunities have the power to change our destiny.

A thought, even a possibility, can shatter and transform us.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Vision > Dream

I saw the fantasy, and it’s not a dream. 

I said, “No, fuck the dream. What are you gonna do with a dream? You have to have a clear vision.”

And when you visualise something really clearly, you believe that you 100% can get there.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold hammered the point that his vision was more than a regular “dream”.

No it was crystal clear. And he believed that he could do it.

That’s another problem with the dreams you have.

Too many of them are pure fantasy, way out in the clouds.

And so you never take them seriously, as deep down, you don’t believe you can do it.

And so that is my next challenge when you get to work on that vision:

What is something you can get excited about, that you believe is possible?

Maybe something one of your heroes has done. So you know it’s 100% possible.

So you have an idea of what you want.

What else do you need?

The drive to succeed

My drive to come to America was enormous. And if you’re willing to put the hours behind it, then you have to really find out what is it, where your talent lies. 

Where are you good at?

To me, bodybuilding represented a sport that is American. 

The feedback that I got in the gym was enormous. And so that’s how I knew that this is the direction that I wanted to go.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold would work out for hours each day in his house in silence. And during this time, he would visualise, he would think and concentrate on how he was going to:

• Become a bodybuilding champion
• How he would move to America
• How he would get into the movie business 
• And how he would make millions of dollars

When you take something this seriously, you are ready for any opportunity that arises.

The next step?

Take whatever opportunity appears.

Arnold got an opportunity to work as a trainer in a gym in Munich, Germany. This was his only way out of Austria and one step closer to America.

Arnold recognised that he wouldn’t be the greatest bodybuilder of all time in Austria. No, he needed to train with the best, which meant moving to the USA. Arnold boldly stated, “I’ve got to get out of here no matter what it takes”.

So that reminds me how sometimes we won’t have the perfect path out, but a path will appear, and that is a step forward nonetheless.

What can you use to power that “drive”? 

Once Arnold did get out, he used his difficult upbringing as fuel to become the best. Playing the victim was not an option.

He recognised the value in his rough childhood — what he hated as a kid was good, as it drove him to get out of there and seek greener pastures. If Arnold had the perfect childhood, he wouldn’t have been motivated to do anything on such a grand scale. And so because of this, he could train longer and go through more misery than others. 

It didn’t bother me, because it was better than where I came from.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

But it’s not only our past circumstances that motivate us to change.

No, we need something to move towards.

And that’s where that powerful vision is critical!  

From that vision comes confidence

Ahh confidence. 

That magical thing that we all wish we had a little more of.

Don’t you?

Tim Ferriss asked Arnold how he looked so confident, as a young man competing against seasoned pros:

In essence, Arnold knew his “why”.

He could push through the pain and suffering of training 5 hours every day because he knew exactly where it was taking him — to world champion!

It’s not like, “Oh my God, I have to do another two hundred sit-ups.”

It’s more like, “I can’t wait to do another two hundred sit-ups because that will get me one step closer to the abs that I need to win the Mr Universe.”

That’s my goal. I see myself clearly on that stage winning the Mr Universe.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

And so when it came competition time Arnold knew he had done all the necessary work and was in exactly the right place. He was so confident and knew he would win!

Could you say the same about your work efforts on the goal you are trying to achieve?

Maybe that’s why your confidence is lacking.

You know deep down that you are doing that work that is truly required.

So stop complaining.

I gave up the excuses, and I started looking for answers.

Tony Robbins

And where does all this deliberate practice lead?

Success 

Arnold won the Mr Universe:

At the age 20, I made my vision become a reality. On that same very stage that Reg Park won it, and I got exactly the same trophy that he got. And exactly the way that I envisioned it. All the people were screaming. 

I thought, this is like a fairytale.

Everything falls into place.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

All that hard work in executing his vision paid off.

I hope you find inspiration in that.  

But remember, it’s not all about “winning”. Life is a journey.

That’s why you should focus more on loving the process rather than the destination.

Surely you have noticed how many bigshot sports stars or celebrities end up failing in life?

Why?

Because they reach the pinnacle of success early on in life, they feel that joy and get addicted to being number one. They want to be adored. But you can’t be number one forever. Soon people stop caring. Then it’s all downhill. And so they lose their way and fall into trouble as the meaning is sucked out of their life. 

How did Arnold avoid this terrible fate?

By climbing another mountain. 

You need to keep finding that greater purpose. 

So you won! What’s next?

My mind is just geared differently. You know, it’s geared towards moving forward.

What is the new thing? A new challenge. A new mountain to climb.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Keep moving forward.

Get out of your head. 

Find ways to serve. 

Given all your interests, strengths and experience so far, you’re quickly becoming one of a kind. You’ll start to see how you can make a unique and powerful contribution to society. 

And this leads to my final nugget of wisdom from Arnold’s story on how to make our unique vision a reality:

Never audition

“Wait”, you wonder, “aren’t we supposed to audition for what we want?”.

Not necessarily.

The job market has conditioned us to “apply” for what available roles are out there.

We wait to be “chosen”.

But there is another way.

Choosing yourself.

You can CREATE your own role.

How?

I loved hearing this almost sense of arrogance from Arnold in his interview with Tim…

When he got to Hollywood, he says he NEVER auditioned for any roles.

It doesn’t appear to make sense, does it?

Isn’t that how the movie business works? Actors audition for roles. Just like you applied for your last job, whatever that was.

But how could Arnold pull this off?

Well, he played a different game.

Rather than pretending to be like everyone else, he instead played to his own strengths:

I never auditioned.

Never.

I would never go out for the regular parts because I was not a regular-looking guy, so my idea always was everyone is going to look the same, and everyone is trying to be the blond guy in California, going to Hollywood interviews and looking somewhat athletic and cute and all this.

Ok, how can I carve myself out a niche that only I have?

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Oh yes! That’s music to my ears — “How can I carve myself out a niche that only I have?”

Brilliant!

And a great question we can apply to the creator economy and personal branding.

Stop trying to be like everyone else.

It isn’t helping you.

Instead, be more of yourself.

Two examples:

First, Arnold was huge in the ’80s — ripped beyond belief! He’s just come off ten years of winning Mr Olympia. But all the bigshot actors in the late ’70s were skinny men — Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino — they were considered “sexy” during that era, not the giant, buff monster.

So rather than pretending to be like them, Arnold carved out his own niche.

He found ways to use his body to his advantage.

And he happened to be the only choice to play Conan the Barbarian.

He was born to play the role. 

And this movie became his big break.

Second, Arnold’s voice was considered a weakness in acting. How can this guy with a thick German accent star in a Hollywood movie?

But when James Cameron was trying to make his movie, Terminator, who could play the role of a killer robot sent back from the future?

Arnold was his guy.

He looked and sounded like a machine. 

And so Arnold became an expert in carving out the roles only he could play.

He was in a league of his own.

A niche of one, “the only”.

Here was the greatest compliment that the very things that the agents and the managers and the studio executives said would be a total obstacle became an asset, and my career started taking off.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

I believe you, too, have some perceived obstacles that could become your greatest assets. 

Isn’t that an inspiring thought?

Pull out your journal, and let’s make it actionable:

Reflection

It’s time to start crafting your compelling vision of where you want to go.

Spend 30 minutes or more journaling it in as much detail as possible. Get creative, and nothing is off-limits. 

If you’re stuck on where to begin, could you look for a blueprint by studying one or more of your idols?

• Who are those heroes for you in your craft?

• Who do you admire?

• Who do you want to be like?

• Who would you love to be in a room with and learn from for a day?

• How did they get to where they are? Could you distil their path into an actionable blueprint?

We learned from Arnold that confidence comes from putting in the necessary work before it’s “go time”.

• What is the daily work you need to be doing to gain the confidence you desire?
  
• What would you need to do to feel like “the best”?

There is no magic pill. Stop hiding and start taking action.

You need to adopt the “never audition” mindset.

What do you have that no one else does?

And how can you use that to your advantage?

What are your biggest obstacles to the success you desire?

How could you start to turn those obstacles into your greatest assets?

Do you have perceived weaknesses that could be considered strengths in a certain context?

Could you start to play a different game, your own game?

A quote to ponder

It is not true that I am self-made.

Like everyone, to get to where I am, I stood on the shoulders of giants…

So how can I ever claim to be self-made?

To accept that mantle discounts every person and every piece of advice that got me here. And it gives the wrong impression — that you can do it alone.

I couldn’t. And odds are, you can’t either.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tools of Titans foreword

What happened this week 

We had another long weekend holiday here. We had a lovely family break seaside. My little son is roaming around now, loving life. So I treasure those moments.

But I feel like I’ve been playing catch-up all week since. And I’ve spent hardly any time on social media, which I guess is good for my wellbeing. Still, I feel bad for being behind on replies and business opportunities. Can’t win, lol!

I’ve been busy updating all my branding and design templates after last week’s new logo announcement that Sepideh Yazdi created for me. 

Today I am editing my first YouTube videos. And I might post one on the weekend if I have some luck. Hopefully not too cringeworthy!

Final thoughts 

Today’s writing background music playlist was 80s Workout on Spotify. 

I thought that would be a good backdrop, given Arnie inspired today’s theme.

So what better tunes than feeling like I am pumping some iron in an 80s gym? Haha!

And I couldn’t resist signing off with one of Arnold’s classic movie lines as I encourage you to get to work on your powerful vision:

If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with a friend, and if you haven’t already, sign up here.

It would be great to have you on board!

Cheers!

Matt K. Head