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Today’s Health Upgrade

• Monday Motivation

• Stressed? Try this.

• Workout of the week

Arnold’s Corner: Monday Motivation

This week, the big sale starts. My book, Be Useful, comes out next week, so every day, you’ll see me in magazines, on podcasts, on your TV — hopefully, everywhere.

I’ve already talked to you about how much I’ve enjoyed the real conversations in the podcasts, so today, I want to talk to you about the importance of selling.

There’s an entire chapter in the book called “Sell, sell, sell.”

It is a vital part of every success story, and I know it makes people uncomfortable, so I want to be very clear.

You can have the best book, the best podcast, the best art, the best anything in the world; you can be the best teacher, the best plumber, the best whatever you want to be — but if you don’t sell, how will anyone ever know?

For too many people, “selling” is a dirty word. They think it’s beneath them, or it’s dirty, and they think of a snake oil salesman or a caricature of a used car salesman pawning off lemons on some unfortunate soul.

I’m lucky. I never thought that way. Since I apprenticed as a salesman in Austria, and even before that, when I sold ice cream to people at the lake, sales have always been how I found success. I didn’t have any hangups about it, so I was free to sell.

In those early days, that meant having the money to buy a used bicycle and a tracksuit that my parents couldn’t afford. Later in life, that meant selling myself, the sport of bodybuilding, action movies, clean energy, infrastructure, and good government policies — everything.

Sell, sell, sell.

You might say, “Schnitzel, I don’t have anything to sell.”

You do. This is the most important thing to learn: selling isn’t just about making money. Selling is communicating, pitching, marketing.

No matter what, you have to sell yourself. We talk all the time about the importance of having a vision. Once you know your vision, your first customer is yourself. You’re going to hit roadblocks and naysayers, and you’ll need to sell yourself to stick with it and keep chasing that vision.

Then, you must sell yourself and your vision to other people. What’s a job interview? A sales pitch. What are you doing when you create a fantastic project and share it with people at your company? Selling.

Let’s say your vision is to be the best teacher in the world. First, you have to sell a principal on hiring you. Then, you have to sell the students on listening to you. Then you have to sell them on each subject.

No matter what you want to do, you’re going to have to sell. So, I want you to get beyond those hangups because once you feel free to sell yourself and your vision, you’ll find doors opening to the life you imagine.

If Schnitzel’s success coming from sales isn’t enough for you, how about this: would you know about the Theory of Relativity if Einstein was a purist who just sat on it in a notebook in his lab? No! He sold it.

And if you still have a little bit of a hang-up and feel like you shouldn’t go out there in the world hyping yourself or your vision, I just heard a story that might help.

Like many of you, I’ve been captivated and inspired by Coach Prime, Deion Sanders, one of the greatest football players (and a great baseball player) of all time and now a great coach for the University of Colorado. I just heard a lesson from him that might help all of you.

He said that Deion Sanders is an introvert who doesn’t like crowds and prefers fishing alone. So, he created an alter-ego when he was a young football player. Prime Time, and now Coach Prime, goes all out. He’s as extroverted as you can be. He realized that his talent could only get him so far, but if he could sell himself, there was no ceiling. Since he’s one of the most talked about people in sports right now, we can all see that he’s succeeding.

If you’re still worried about selling yourself, create your own alter-ego.

No matter what it takes, I just want you to start selling yourself and your vision so that I can watch your success.

I promised all of you I’d share the interviews and podcasts I’ve done for the book. Here’s the first round. I’ll keep sharing all week. Sell!

People

New York Times 

And I’m on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight!

The Underrated Stress-Reducer

Can kindness kill stress? If you direct it to the right person, science suggests you might have a more effective way to feel less overwhelmed.

A recent study found that improving self-compassion helps you reduce stress and increase well-being.

But what exactly is self-compassion? It's the practice of treating yourself with kindness and understanding, especially in moments of difficulty or failure. For example, instead of beating yourself up over a mistake at work, self-compassion encourages us to acknowledge our humanity, learn from the experience, and move forward in a positive way.

So, how can you tap into the power of self-compassion in your life? Start by incorporating self-compassion practices into your daily routine. For instance, when facing a stressful situation, take a moment to offer yourself words of comfort and support, just as you would offer a friend in need. This simple act of self-care can help shift your mindset and increase your resilience in the face of stress.

Additionally, mindfulness meditation can be a powerful tool in cultivating self-compassion. Taking a few minutes each day to sit in stillness and observe your thoughts and feelings without judgment can help you develop a greater sense of self-awareness and acceptance. As the study suggests, combining mindfulness with self-compassion can amplify the positive effects of reducing stress and improving well-being.

If you're interested in learning more about self-compassion and incorporating it into your life, consider exploring resources like books by Kristin Neff, one of the leading researchers in the field. Or, if you want to apply self-compassion to diet and exercise, check out Adam’s book. It applies the lessons of stoicism and habit-based change, shifts how you think about food, changes your internal narrative, and puts you in control of living a healthier life.

Workout of the Week

Ready to join the 30-30 club? This week, we’re stepping away from the normal cadence of sets and reps and offering timed sets. Grab a stopwatch (or your phone), set a timer for 30 seconds, and do as many reps as possible. Then, rest for 30 seconds and move on to the next exercise.

Two rounds of this workout will take you just 10 minutes. And if you’re more advanced, try to perform four rounds, which will only be 20 minutes.

While it might feel different, timed sets allow you to get in a lot of reps in a short period of time, making for an intense workout that gives you a great pump and cardio benefits.

Bodyweight Version

1. Alternating lunges

2. Pushups

3. Inverted row/pullups/Superman pullup

4. Squats

5. Mountain climbers

Dumbbell Version

1. Dumbbell lunges

2. Dumbell chest press

3. Dumbell bent-over row

4. Dumbbell front squats

5. Dumbell weighted crunch

Give it a try, and let us know what you think!

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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger​

Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell