Happy Lunar New Year & Life Lessons from a Legend
Happy Lunar New Year everyone!
Growing up, Lunar New Year was one of my favorite holidays for one reason – the red envelopes. Adults would hand out these little red envelopes to all the kids during this holiday, each containing, as Randy Moss would say “straight cash homie”.
Most times you would get to see your good friends Abe Lincoln, Alexander Hamilton, and Andrew Jackson but sometimes your best friend Ben Franklin would make an appearance.
Americans can have their Santa. We Asians had our Saint Benjamin.
But over time, I would receive fewer and fewer red envelopes every year and eventually they stopped all together. Sadly, so too did my interest in the holiday. By my 20’s, it rarely triggered more than a cursory acknowledgement and some years I would forget about it entirely.
Now the shoe is on the other foot. I’m the one handing out the red envelopes and dressing Julian up in a traditional new year outfit. Not only because it’s super cute (see below!) but also because I’m beginning to appreciate the importance of maintaining these traditions for the next generation.
Unless we do it, no one else will. These traditions will be lost forever, along with an important part of who we all are.
Here’s to a happy and prosperous new year and hoping everyone receives plentiful red envelopes in 2024!
Life Lessons from a Living Legend, Arnold Schwarzenegger
I just finished the audio version of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new book Be Useful: Seven Tools of Life (available free with Spotify Premium). I initially thought he was an odd choice to write a self-help book, just like he was an odd choice to be governor of California.
Growing up in the 90’s, Arnold was the big-time actor that showed up in all action movies and a former bodybuilder that once said this about lifting weights. I remember being shocked when he won that 2003 California recall election, an election that also featured Larry Flynt (founder of Hustler) and a porn star in the top 10 of vote getters (reminder that our political system has always been a clown show as we face the prospects of the Biden vs. Trump II: The Best America Can Do later this year).
I have no strong perspectives around whether he was a good governor. My 5 min desktop research found no major scandals and he seems to have pushed through some legitimate legislation during his term so he gets a pass in my book.
To even ascend to that post without any prior political experience was a massive achievement in and of itself. This is after he reached the pinnacle of two completely unrelated careers – bodybuilding and acting. To reach the top of either of those requires a massive amount of hard work, dedication, and discipline. He did both and then set his sights on the governorship and did that as well.
I decided to give his book a shot because he’s a living legend and you can learn a lot from someone that’s achieved so much in his life.
Here are 8 of my favorite ideas from his book:
Have a clear vision – You need know what you are working towards. What is the life you are trying to build? It’s ok if you aren’t crystal clear on that vision today. What’s important is to start taking positive action and the picture will soon start filling itself out.
Always think big – It takes just as much effort to think big as to think small. By thinking small you are limiting what you can achieve before you even get started. Start big and see how far you can take it.
Never compromise – When Arnold left bodybuilding, it was for a vision of being a leading man in Hollywood. No one believed he could do it and his early offers were for side roles like a Nazi officer or bouncer. He turned them down because they didn’t fit with his vision. Instead, he dedicated himself to improving his craft before eventually landing the lead gig in Conan the Barbarian.
Bet on yourself – After establishing himself as an action star, Arnold shifted his focus towards comedies and other genres but met similar resistance from people telling him he couldn’t do it. No studio was willing to make a big bet on him as a lead in a comedy. Instead, he partnered with Danny Devito to develop Twins and agreed to forgo his salary in exchange for a share of the films profits in order to get the film made. It ended up being the biggest payday of his career.
Put in real reps – To do anything well requires continued practice. Reps remove doubt and build confidence. Most importantly, they need to be good reps where your mind and body are fully engaged. Not BS ones where you don’t go through the full range of motion or your mind is somewhere else. This applies not just to lifting but to everything in life.
Be accountable – When you say you’re going to do something. Do it. This is important for building trust with other people but more importantly, building trust in yourself. Once you have a track record of solving problems and overcoming challenges, you start to believe you can do anything.
Never complain unless you’re prepared to do something about it – Life isn’t perfect or fair. You can probably list off an endless number of things that you’d want to change about your life right now. They can be big things like your job or tiny things like wavy-edged toilet paper (why?) How many of those things are you willing to take action to address? Complaining doesn’t accomplish anything besides putting you in a negative state. Stop complaining and do something about it.
Be useful – The title and the guiding principle of the entire book is to be useful. Ultimately, we are all part of the same interconnected society. There’s a limit to how much you can achieve if you’re only focused on improving your own station in life. Shift the perspective outwards and figure out how best you can contribute and give back to society. The universe will return the favor.