How To Be Good At Anything
Imagine if you could be good at anything you wanted. Snap your fingers and be able to speak fluent French, play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on the piano, run a marathon, recite Shakespeare, or get six-pack abs. Well most of us never quite seem to be able to pull these off. We blame it on being too old, a bad memory, not enough time, or being too tired. Arnold is a man who literally fulfilled his whole checklist of dreams. Find out how.
Tai Lopez Dec 14, 2013
In today's 'Book Of The Day' I read Arnold Schwarzenegger's autobiography, Total Recall. 
 
And wow - all I can say is love him or hate him you have to say that he knows how to turn dreams into reality (and I don't mean that in the trite, cliche way you usually hear). He fulfilled his whole checklist of dreams:
 
-Immigrate to America
-Move to California
-Become Mr. Olympia Bodybuilder
-Make A Million Dollars
-Become the #1 Actor in the world
-Get Elected for Governor of California
 
His secret? A little seed planted deep in his mind at 5 years old. His dad would make him do 1 or 2 sets of 5 push-ups to earn the right to eat breakfast or the right to play with his toys. His parents used this strategy to instill the concept that if Arnold wanted some reward he had to earn it through repetitions.
 
Let's call it "Reps & Sets": To get what you want, you practice one thing over and over until you get good at. Simple.
 
Arnold used this concept of "Reps & Sets" for the rest of his life. To get more muscles than anyone he decided to just do more repetitions - more practice than anyone else. At one point he was working out 6 hours a day. He would do 500 sit-ups or 1000 calf raises a day. Ridiculous but effective. By age 25 he was the #1 bodybuilder of all time.
 
Next he decided he wanted to become a millionaire before age 30 (he wasn't an actor yet). What did he do? Same thing, reps and sets. He just went out and practiced real estate until he had made his first million.  He would spend 8 hours a day walking the streets of Santa Monica looking at houses, apartment buildings, condos and talking to realtors and investors until he knew everything inside and out. 
 
He just out practiced everyone - out hustled them. He was a work horse.  
 
Next he wanted to become a Hollywood star. But his foreign accent was in the way. So he practiced with a speech coach 7 hours a day until he had toned down the accent. Eventually he made $29.5 million for Terminator 2, the highest ever at the time.
 
Then at 40, he used reps and sets in politics despite the fact he started out knowing very little. That didn't deter him. He just spent 5 or 10 hours a day learning from a cabinet of political advisers until he felt confident he could govern the largest state in the USA.
 
So if you want to learn Spanish, or lose a few pounds, or make more an extra $100,000 this year - Simply do MORE HOURS OF PRACTICE - MORE REPS & SETS.
 
It worked every time for Arnold.  Ignore all the books and articles falsely teaching you that you can just skip the hard work of practice.  It's a lie we all have fallen for at one time or another. Remember in most things there simply are no shortcuts.
 
When I lived with the Amish in my early 20's they had a saying in German that translated "When you have something hard to do, just jump right in, and the next thing you know you will be done". 
 
So stop thinking about how much work it will take to live out your dreams - just jump in and the next thing you know you will have achieved them.
 
Remember, the process of practicing can be fun. It's not all about finishing. It's like John Lennon said, "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."
 
Go hit the gym today, learn Russian, start a new internet business. Or really go all out and do all 3 of these at once. Find something super hard like learning calculus and do it just for fun to start rewiring your mind to love the 'burn'.
 
Strike up a passionate affair with the challenging pain of mastering new skills. Remember the pain is temporary and the rewards for high skill levels in difficult fields are amazing.
 
The reward is what Socrates called 'The Good Life'. You will find what everyone wants: Health, Wealth, Love, & Higher Purpose.

>>Click Here For The Audio Version With Show Notes and Download Link

>>Click Here To Listen On YouTube

 
Question:  How close are you to checking off your proverbial 'bucket list'? (Leave your answer in the comments below)

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