What Does Purpose, Focus and the Terminator Have in Common?
Revealing the uncharacteristically subtle depth of Arnold Schwarzenegger
Many years ago I watched the documentary Pumping Iron with Arnold Schwarzenegger and perceived him as ruthless and brutish. But then I saw him in the first and second Terminator movies and came to love him as an action star — or at least as far as the Terminator movies go. No small measure of praise for those movies is rightly attributable to the genius of James Cameron, but I’ll-be-back-Schwarzenegger truly became a believable menacing horrific killing machine that kept us on the edge of our seats.
October 2, 2003, I was working at the LA Times when the paper broke the story about Schwarzenegger’s sexual misconduct with numerous women throughout the years just five days before the special election for governor of California. I read the in-depth investigative story and found it highly believable, in part because working there I knew how much effort went into the story. We were a world-class journalistic institution and allegations against famous people wouldn’t make it to print without a great deal of corroboration.
But instead of people perceiving Arnold differently because of the story there was huge backlash, as the Times was accused of releasing the story so close to the election for political reasons — not because the team researched and researched and waited to publish until they felt they had it right.
As history has it, he became governor, was re-elected in 2006, and retired from politics in 2011. I left California for greener pastures in 2008, at which time I put the Governator out of mind. I even snubbed my nose at the following Terminator sequels or any other of his movies since.
But then Maria and I just watched the three-part Netflix docuseries on Arnold, which I would characterize as a brief autobiographical. It’s mostly Arnold at age 75 recounting the story of his life, and while I found it fascinating from the beginning I was waiting and wondering how he would address the LA Times story or if he would at all. As it turns out, he did, and he acknowledged that he behaved badly with women in the past and apologized for it in detail. The series showed video of him doing the same immediately after the story came out, which I had somehow missed at the time.
Wow! I thought. When does a man with an aggressive machismo persona own such things? And when does the unstoppable Terminator show such introspection.
But that’s not the real essence of the story that gave me pause for consideration. Arnold (at least at his present stage of life) has some depth. He’s not two-dimensional, and doesn’t take himself too seriously, as one would expect from a larger-than-life action hero.
Numerous times he referenced the Austrian-German idiom schmäh, which roughly translates to bullshit, when describing his antics. On the surface he’s a showman and always has been. Performing schmäh to further his persona. Underneath, though, he has always been supremely driven to achieve his dreams, completely focused, and profoundly confident that his visions will become a reality.
After winning every body building championship for five years straight he retired while still in his prime to pursue an acting career. He could have kept competing and winning for many more years, but he wanted something new.
Everyone told him he was crazy. His accent was strong, his English wasn’t very good at the time, and he had no formal training in acting. But he had his fame, his macho persona, and — of course — his muscles.
His first movie was a bomb, but he refused to accept roles as a character acter. Instead he saw himself as a leading man. Eventually, he met and befriended the right people, he studied the craft of acting, and was eventually cast in Conan the Barbarian, a sort of okay movie that showed those in the film business he was serious about acting.
And then the hasta-la-vista Terminator put him on the map as an actual actor and box office golden boy. He literally became the most famous person in the world, making between $20 and $30 million per film. Then at the height of his film career he set his sights on politics.
Wait, what?
That’s when I lost interest, thinking he had gone off the deep end. His first term as governor was almost as bad as his first movie. He clashed with state legislators and the people of California rejected every single measure he put on the ballot. Later he apologized to the people for the cost and effort associated with his ballot measures and became a centrist.
He changed in his second term seeking political reform. He called himself a republican but didn’t behave like one. Nor did he behave like a democrat, but rather someone who wants to get stuff done. He appointed a large number of highly skilled judges of diverse backgrounds and tackled traditionally unpopular issues such as public infrastructure and water management. By the time he left office the Supreme Court of California was comprised of mostly women thanks to Arnold. He will likely be remembered as a political reformer rather than a muscle-bound actor turned neophyte ego-driven political office holder.
What I take from his life and story is complete focus, commitment to a purpose, and a crystal-clear belief in a vision — not accepting anything but full realization. But even more deeply is what he shared about having fun in life. In the docuseries he talked about people who work and worry and work and worry. He said, “fuck that.” No matter how hard he worked he always cultivated friendships and sought for comradery and fun in everything he did.
This is a big teaching for me, as I’ve always leaned more toward seriousness in life, not allowing myself to have too much fun. I’ve always been that way, and at times my seriousness has an advantage, but more often it just means I’m unnecessarily serious when I could be having more fun and encouraging others around me to do the same.
Arnold’s apology to women doesn’t make him a saint. He lost his long-term marriage to Maria Shriver and broke up his family due to an affair with the family’s long-time housekeeper. He even had a baby with her and tried to keep it a secret until Maria figured it out. Now, as he says, “I have to live with that for the rest of my life.”
Admitting to the pain he caused his family, he is highly involved in the life of his son from his affair and speaks glowingly of him, "It was wrong what I did. But I don’t want to make Joseph feel that he is not welcomed in this world — because he is very much welcomed in this world. I love him and he has turned out to be an extraordinary young man."
So even from the Terminator, an alpha male with a “schmäh” attitude toward life there is something deeper than I could have imagined. Or in other words, the depth is all around us if we just look for it and celebrate it when we see it. And that depth can be as simple as working hard and having fun — mixing two things that often seem mutually exclusive.
And so, in answer to the question of what does purpose, focus, and the Terminator have in common? Arnold Schwarzenegger’s complete and utter commitment to purpose and focus and never forgetting his vision has led to extraordinary life accomplishments, along with some colossal failures of course. Definitely some value there to learn from.
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It's about finding our own personal balance between focused effort toward goals achievement and fun. I agree generally with your opinion of Arnold. Many of us are late bloomers in finding true self and awareness of how our actions profoundly effect others.
On the lighter side if you watch the movie that Arnold starred in called Total Recall, when he visits Recall and he chooses categories for his perfect woman. You will notice distinct similarities between his selection in the movie and the housekeeper he had a child outbof wedlock with.