Skip to content

The question

What accomplishment matters most to you?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

Verbatim recurring item in The Guardian Q&A; two fully readable publisher-hosted respondent pages establish institutional recurrence.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

AS
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
I have a great family, great friends, and a fantastic career. But I'm also really proud of the work I do for kids—like the Special Olympics, promoting health and fitness for youngsters, and working on afterschool programs, such as the Inner City Games and Arnold's All-Stars.

Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, July 2003 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 192 →
John Lewis U.S. Representative from Georgia, 1987–2020; Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 1963–1966
Participating in a transformative movement that advocated human dignity and changed America forever.
Recorded Vanity Fair, Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 6 December 2019 source ↗

More from Arnold Schwarzenegger

View profile →
Question Which teacher, parent, coach, or friend most made you who you are, and what did you learn from them? Relationships
My father would make sure that I knew what it meant. Just to give you an example, I started bodybuilding with the age of 15, and my father would say, why are you lifting these dumbbells and barbells? Don't you think it would be better to just go out and chop some wood and shovel some coal for some poor people that don't have anyone? Therefore you would get muscles. But at the same time, you're doing something useful. You're doing something for somebody rather than just for yourself and looking in a mirror at yourself and stuff like that. So he would make sure that you knew what being useful meant.
Recorded A Martínez, Morning Edition, NPR, 6 October 2023 source ↗
Question How has a setback or failure set you up for later success? Failure & regret
Well, maybe it was successful in the end. But, I mean, to get there - one of the things that I talk about is not to be afraid of failure because you're going to fail. And I was 19 years old. I was competing in the Mr. Universe contest, and I lost. I had movies that went in the toilet. I have had policy issues and referendums that went in front of the people that I lost. And, of course, in my personal life, you know, my marriage is a big loss. So there's a lot of losses and failures that I've had. And I think that it is important that we recognize that. But no matter what it is, I always had an exciting life and always chased something, and that made, to me, the whole thing worth it. I always felt I was enriched by the fact that I always knew where I was going. And then there were some things that were unexpected. Like, running for governor was something that kind of unfolded only because there was a recall election.
Recorded A Martínez, Morning Edition, NPR, 6 October 2023 source ↗
Question Do you rely more on inspiration or discipline to make your work? Craft & work
It's just, I would say, faith. I had very clear visions of me being a champion. When I saw this picture of Reg Park on a cover, standing there like - as Hercules, from the Hercules movies, I looked at that, and then I looked at the inside and I read the story, and I immediately started creating visions of me standing there on the pedestal at the Mr. Universe contest and me being Hercules and me doing movies and so on. And that created such unbelievable drive and such unbelievable will and discipline, that there was absolutely no stopping me. I mean, I went to the gym two hours every day lifting weights. When I came home afterwards, I lifted an extra hour and a half and did bodybuilding training, and it was just relentless.
Recorded David Greene, Talk of the Nation, NPR, 2 October 2012 source ↗

More on craft & work

Also answered this

Mo Farah, John Prescott, Michael Stipe, Rob Delaney, Nish Kumar, Toyah Willcox

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

Report this answer