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Tim Ferriss Interviews Arnold Schwarzenegger on Psychological Warfare (And Much More) (#60)

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In this episode, I interview the one and only Arnold Schwarzenegger… at his kitchen table.

In our conversation, we dig into lessons learned, routines, favorite books, and much more, including many stories I’ve never heard anywhere else.  I’m also giving away amazing goodies for this episode, so be sure to read this entire post.

As a starting point, we cover:

  • The Art of Psychological Warfare, and How Arnold Uses It to Win
  • How Twins Became His Most Lucrative Movie (?!?)
  • Mailing Cow Balls to Politicians
  • How Arnold Made Millions — BEFORE His Acting Career Took Off
  • How Arnold Used Meditation For One Year To Reset His Brain
  • And Much More…

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can find the transcript of this episode here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

Ep 60: Tim Ferriss Interviews Arnold Schwarzenegger on Psychological Warfare (And Much More)

### NOTE: THE BELOW HAS SINCE ENDED. THANKS! ###

I WANT TO GIVE YOU GOODIES:

1) A signed copy of Arnold’s autobiography, Total Recall, personalized for you by Arnold himself.

2) A roundtrip ticket anywhere in the world Continental flies, $1,000 USD cold hard cash, or a long dinner with me in SF (and a flight from anywhere in the domestic US).  Pick one of the three.

To get both 1 and 2, all you have to do is this:

1) Promote the hell out of this episode this week, driving clicks to the iTunes page (ideal) for my podcast, this direct streaming link, or this blog post. If helpful, the shorter link fourhourworkweek.com/arnold forwards to this blog post.

2) Leave a comment on this post telling me what you did (including anything quantifiable), no later than this Friday, Feb 6, at 6pm PT. Comments must be submitted by 6pm PT. It’s OK if they’re in moderation and don’t appear live before 6pm. Note: You must include #arnoldpod at the top of your comment to be considered! 

3) Within 7 days hence, I and my panel of magic elves will select the winner: he or she who describes in their comment how they drove the most downloads/listens.

4) That’s it! Remember: Deadline is 6pm PT this Friday, Feb 6.  No extensions.

5) Of course, void where prohibited, no purchase required, you must be over 21, no minotaurs, etc.

###

This podcast is brought to you by 99Designs, the world’s largest marketplace of graphic designers. Did you know I used 99Designs to rapid prototype the cover for The 4-Hour Body? Here are some of the impressive results.  Click this link and get a free $99 upgrade.  Give it a test run..

Scroll below for links and show notes…

Enjoy!

Selected Links from the Episode

Sample People Mentioned

The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than 900 million downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.

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Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That’s how we’re gonna be — cool. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Brian Oberkirch for the inspiration.)

528 Replies to “Tim Ferriss Interviews Arnold Schwarzenegger on Psychological Warfare (And Much More) (#60)”

      2. and it looks like the Elves are still experimenting with the Psychedelics as per Tim’s post on “Psychedelics as Therapy” 🙂

      4. Hey Tim, a lot of us are anxious to find out who won this contest. Many people put in a lot of time, money and heart to help you out in exchange for the chance to meet you. If you’ve picked a winner, please announce it. Thank you.

      5. “3) Within 7 days hence, I and my panel of magic elves will select the winner: he or she who describes in their comment how they drove the most downloads/listens.

        4) That’s it! Remember: Deadline is 6pm PT this Friday, Feb 6. No extensions.”

        Almost a month! Starting to smell like false advertising. Man, don’t disappoint your fans Tim!

      6. Hey Tim, I would like to politely request that you let your fans know who won this contest. I personally reviewed all the submissions and, with total respect to all who competed, I’m positive I drove the most verified clicks. I hope my submission wasn’t overlooked due to the fact that your comments are posted in EST, and it therefore looks like I submitted after the 6pm PST deadline which I didn’t. I can’t wait to thank you personally for the hugely positive impact you’ve made in my life.

  3. Another great interview. The whole series has been excellent, but the last few have reached another level. Thank you for doing these.

    Reply

  6. +Arnold Schwarzenegger interview (podcast) by +Tim Ferriss finds this podcast a huge departure and success for Tim and therefore a listener like me, now a former critic of Tim’s interviewing approach.

    Tim makes this Arnold podcast like never before in recent memory. You will revel in this show, because of Tim’s ability to light Arnold’s engagement fire allowing it to blossom for everyone’s benefit. I hereby offer to buy a transcript with the possibility funds from such a purchase will go toward Arnold’s After School project.

    Congrats to Tim for establishing a verbal template; How To Make Your Podcast Guest Be The Star and not you, the interview facilitator.

    Personal Note: I respectfully withdraw this implied entry in the contest for Arnold’s book. I plan to buy it and the three other tomes Arnold recommended and gave to others.

    Boffo to Arnold and Tim. I plan to also herald the podcast content on iTunes and other social media venues in the next several days as I Igrapple with joint pain flareups that reduce my touch typing to “hunt & peck”.

    Reply

    1. I am currently reading it and having so much fun. It’s probably one of the few books that makes me burst into laughing, meanwhile being extremely inspirational…

      Reply

  11. Pure inspiration! My favourite life hacker interviews my favourite action actor, athlete and governator. With those two, the name alone is motivating enough to have a read or watch a video / movie.

    I have shared with my 10k LinkedIn connections, as well as my Facebook and my twitter followers. I also called some training buddies so that they’d listen to the podcast on their next long running session.

    Would love to “interview” you over dinner in SF, Tim!

    Reply

  14. Loved the Governator episode.

    Here’s a link to the teaser infographic I have created.

    https://infogr.am/arnolds_world-604

    The teaser infographic has been shared on Pinterst, Twitter, Instagram, Tumbler and Facebook accounts, followed by personal posts about how much value I got out of this podcast. Looks like the infographic is catching on like wildfire.

    This should drive drive some well deserved traffic to the episode and the blog.

    Thanks for everything you do Tim and team!

    Reply

  17. Awesome podcast as always. Really nice that the guests get to shine!

    About your challenge: this is a fun little exercise in creativity. I am posting your link every day for the next 3 days to over 20 million people on FB, 13,3 million people on twitter and about 5 million people on google+.

    The facebook connected accounts are about 90% active, the same goes for the followers on twitter.

    I can add proof of the posts (seperately via email), but can’t guarantee that this will effectively generate more traffic (unless I find a compelling way to Jedi-mind trick people to click the link “these are the cookies you have been waiting for”).

    Would be great to share stories over a glass of Malbec and some grass-fed beef.

    Keep up the great work Tim and team!

    Reply

    1. #arnoldpod

      Sneaky Tim, very sneaky!

      On Friday I will post some more dedicated quantifications as I have honestly outsourced most of this.

      Hope that you already see a statistically relevant impact on your traffic from all of us posting this on the FB’s page of our neighbour’s cat and Joe The Scrarecrow.

      rock on …

      Reply

      1. #arnoldpod

        First thing I have done is to outsource this using fiverr to the people with positive rankings that can reach the highest amount of (active) people

        as a specific example I have outsourced the biggest part of the twitter campaign to Tweet_Queen (what’s in a name) and she is reaching more than 1.3 million followers over different channels. She will be posting this daily over the next 4 days.

        The tweet (@Ravenswisdom my own handle) :

        “@Ravenswisdom

        @tferriss Fun Interview with Arnold.Tim really lets his guests shine in his awesome podcasts buff.ly/1DnF08d”

        I have used your short link from your tweet leading to this landing page: http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/02/02/arnold-schwarzenegger/?utm_content=buffera2bb6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

        game on …

      2. #arnoldpod

        Awesome podcast as always. Really nice that the guests get to shine!

        About your challenge: this is a fun little exercise in creativity. I am posting your link every day for the next 3 days to over 20 million people on FB, 13,3 million people on twitter and about 5 million people on google+.

        The facebook connected accounts are about 90% active, the same goes for the followers on twitter.

        I can add proof of the posts (seperately via email), but can’t guarantee that this will effectively generate more traffic (unless I find a compelling way to Jedi-mind trick people to click the link “these are the cookies you have been waiting for”).

        Would be great to share stories over a glass of Malbec and some grass-fed beef.

        Keep up the great work Tim and team!

      3. #arnoldpod

        The second thing I have done is identified key persons in my personal circle that would be interested in this podcast and your site in general. I gave them the link and explained them what it is about and why this could be of interest to them.

        These are people in varying industries, but have a common interest in either top / high performance, optimised learning, health, fitness, …

        They had to share this to 3 more people, who could be interested in this, and those people then had to share with 3 more potentially interested people and so on.

        This is how exponential thinking works and is the best way to reach a potentially new audience

        The challenge typically is that we all fish in the same pond. With the above approach you might actually find more people that have not heard of you before.

      4. #arnoldpod

        The third thing is the more personal touch of mine.

        I have personally shared this on my linkedin network (about 6.5 million persons) , social media groups which could be interested, …

        The feedback in for instance the unbeatable mind group (UM academy of Mark Divine – former Seal Commander) is largely positive!

        Some of my personal friends liked the interview very much and did not know you or your work.

        I have reached about 100 confirmations at the moment. Hope this can still grow substantially considering the potential in my network.

        laugh on …

      5. #arnoldpod

        Summing it all up.

        After quickly reading about viral marketing, my brainstorm ended up with a three pillar concept (yes, I love old Greek/Roman buildings).

        **

        1. First Pillar: “Shotgun approach”: Outsourcing the social media posting of your link to as many ‘big players’ as possible.

        This does reach the largest audience the fastest, but probably has the least amount of ‘click through’.

        It could generate a short burst in traffic which I assumed was also partially what you were looking for.

        **

        **

        2; Second Pillar: “Going Viral approach”: Super targeted with the request to spread this to 3 interested persons, and ask them to do the same.

        This has the highest potential as it works exponential. The effects might take a little longer to manifest than the “shotgun approach” but should generate the highest amount of real and potentially long term traffic.

        This is an approach also discussed in the nice movie: . Can only recommend it.

        Difficult to really quantify without a targeted link. Else it would just be theoretical mathematics.

        **

        **

        3. Third Pillar: “Mr Personal approach”. Sharing with personal friends, in my linkedin network, relevant social media pages.

        I had some good feedback on your podcast through my friends. This is the easy, relaxed approach.

        Medium impact due to it being medium targeted.

        **

        Only the viral approach will generate true value for you as the other approaches are probably not statistically relevant in their impact, due to what I mentioned in earlier posts with most people fishing in the same pond.

        Bottom-line: I hope that you have found an increase in followers, audience, groupies, peer minded folks, researchers, guru’s, …. by your podcast going viral through our combined efforts.

        Since less and less people in the US seem to care about vaccination these days, it’s likely that your viral campaign had a substantial impact.

        Keep on adding value to a lot of people’s lives and we will return the favour for sure!

        btw, I can highly recommend the Bodega Catena Zapata 2005 Argentino Malbec (Mendoza) wine for over dinner.

        Rock on Tim …

      6. Haha. Most people didn’t read the rules! About time someone did! I was gonna make a late entry if no one saw this. I figured Tim’s readers wouldn’t have missed a chance to at least enter knowing they might win by default just like his story of trying to contact someone famous. But days ago I also realized that no one used the #arnoldpod tag! I thought I had a shot at a late entry and was about to be a combination between Tim’s kickboxing loophole and following the 80/20 rule. Accelerated Learning…. Question the obvious! Doing the opposite was going to be me doing the minimum work and winning by default. Good for you Jochen for reading!

        Admittedly I didn’t participate because I was holding out hope that no one else would put the #arnoldpod tag and I could do it in the 11th hour.

      7. I know, that is why I started commenting / replying to people I thought really put in the efforts and remind them of the hashtag.

        Starting Thursday most folks started using the hashtag which is a good thing :-).

        Good luck and have fun! …

  19. By far my favorite interview on your podcast. I knew Arnold was a brilliant man, but didn’t know he was THIS brilliant. So self aware as well which I thought was great. I’ll be sharing this one everywhere Tim!

    Reply

    1. Ok Tim,this is why I should be the one having dinner with you:

      1)I need to shake your hand.You completely changed my life

      2)I can teach you a lot of stuff,including the slang from Rome,so you can sound like a roman gangster at will(of course I was born and raised in Rome,Italy)

      3)I shared the link in my 2 facebook pages,for a total of 7k contacts

      https://www.facebook.com/lorenzo.borgomeo

      https://www.facebook.com/lorenzo.borgomeoii

      Got this guy post on his 90k contact page plus reddit,pingler,buddy marks etc

      http://www.fiverr.com/download/MA615A90A463/original/22.docx

      Got the post on http://instagram.com/trapvine ( 68k followers)

      Get’ Maculam frank’ shared it on his 2 millions contact in Facebook,between groups and personal pages

      Got the link tweeted on 50k followers on @SkyUrbanFashion

      I got the screenshot but I have no sufficient skills to post them on here.

      I promise I will not act like a weirdo and I will not torture you with questions.

      Reply

  22. Hi Tim,

    I shared the link on my Facebook Page, also Mailed it to everyone attending our University Gym, where I volunteer as a trainer.

    Also send it to my closest friends via Mail.

    Really enjoyed the Podcast.

    Reply

  24. Great interview. His comments toward the end regarding why he took up meditation “Everything coming together” instead of being able to take one thing at a time heavily resonated. Inspiring podcast. Big time.

    Reply

  26. Albert Camus — “A man’s work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened.” God, what man raised in the era of television wasn’t obsessed with Arnold in his formative years? I reflect on Arnie’s raw forward momentum, the rewards and missteps for which it’s responsible in his career. Regardless of whatever disinterested objectivity I try to cultivate regarding his outputs, there’s no way to erase the impact his passion had on me as a kid. He was a demi-god, larger than life. For better or worse, so much life force from one person. Can’t imagine how inspiring it was to sit down with him.

    Reply

  27. A great interview –– and a revealing interview –– of a smart, complex, and fascinating human being.

    One quick story: a friend of mine worked with Mr. Schwarzenegger many years back, supervising edits on one of his action films, and I remember one conversation where my friend just went on and on about Arnold’s incredibly sharp intelligence, his “down to earth” nature, his absolute loyalty to a collection of non-Hollywood friends, and his addiction to chess.

    Thanks for showing the human –– and not the T800 –– side of The Governator.

    Reply

  28. Wow, literally just finished Total Recall and this podcast popped up. Great book, really shows why he was so successful (in terms of his mentality and work ethic). This podcast was a great compliment to it and Tim’s questions really allowed Arnold to show a passionate and personal side of him. AWESOME.

    Reply

  30. Tim ‪#‎Ferriss‬ interviews ‪#‎Arnold‬ ‪#‎Schwarzenegger‬ ‪#‎rt‬

    You grow up in grinding post war poverty

    Draw water from a well to drink and bathe

    In the snow

    Visting a doctor involves a grueling hike across mountains

    Your father is unbelievably hard on you

    Some friends get into bodybuilding

    You join them

    Find out you’re good at it

    You train

    Work harder than the others

    You compete

    Start to win

    Go to England to compete

    You don’t know enough English to thank the audience

    You win more

    You move to America

    Learn English

    Win a World Championship

    And another

    And another

    Make millions of dollars in real estate

    Eventually over $100M

    Become an actor

    Your 2nd film is hailed by critics

    You star in Blockbuster after Blockbuster

    One of the most popular movie stars in a generation

    You marry a Kennedy

    Get into politics

    Run for Governor

    Win

    A life like this could never be fiction

    Just wouldn’t be believable

    But this is America

    The Promised Land

    And we can do anything here

    Tim Ferriss is probably the World’s greatest living Author

    If you haven’t read his books

    Subscribed to his blog posts

    You are missing something in your life

    The World’s foremost expert on Self Improvement

    Just interviewed one of the World’s greatest examples of

    What is possible through Self improvement

    Arnold Schwarzenegger

    A great American(and Austrian)

    It’s an amazing podcast

    Enjoy

    FaceBooked and Tweeted

    Keep up the good work, Tim

    Reply

  33. I appreciate your willingness to develop these interviews differently than the subjects are used to being interviewed. It seems to me that your guests are opening up more than usual during these conversations. Perhaps they go into auto-pilot during most interviews, which tend to follow the same tired tracks? When you ask them questions they aren’t typically asked, your guests seem to perk up and talk to you like a friend rather than an interviewer. The result is fantastic for the listener.

    You certainly entered this interview at a unique angle.

    Reply

    1. Yes & yes! As with all that Tim does, he went to school on how to make the interviewee the star of Tim’s interviews, The result! Tim is now a world class listener ensuring our experience is also world class. True or true? sQs

      Reply

  34. I am a very interested vagabond in mind. I am a life student in health, martial arts, philosophy and humour.

    I love the honest curious and scientific approach of the whole 4hour team and the Tim super friendly style.

    The determined and focus passion of mister Schwarzenegger will always served has a role model for a lot’s of people.

    So many excellent podcast has come from your website, Peter Diamandis, Pavel Tsatsouline and All of it. Your 4hour book series is great.

    This is my favorites podcast

    keep it up.

    listening from freezing Québec.

    fred

    Reply

  37. This was a very nice podcast (I’ve listened twice already!). I never realized that Arnold had such a great sense of humor – The cow balls part was fantastic.

    Shared to my LinkedIn MBA Alumni group (18,000+), Facebook AIESEC Alumni group (3400+). I also put it on reddit/r/getmotivated, but I have no way of quantifying the reach just yet.

    I used the following link because I can no longer find the one you mentioned to use: http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/02/02/arnold-schwarzenegger/

    Reply

  38. Amazing Tim! English is not my native language and I understand to the spoken speech much worse than the written text, but when I saw you interviewed Arnold, I just had to listen to it. Great and thank you

    Reply

  39. Tim, I am disappointed that most of this interview was rather superficial, with material that’s a rehash of anecdotes found in his autobiography. I would have liked to hear about deeper topics — like his most important life lessons, reflections on growing older/parenthood, reflections on fame/power/wealth, and his opinions on current events and cultural phenomena, etc. Also, I would have liked to hear about his daily health/fitness/nutrition routines.

    Reply

  40. Posted and shared this with every fitness. And motivational group I’m a part of on Facebook. It won’t get you a million downloads but if only a handful download they are in for a treat (as always).

    Would love to win the opportunity to have a long dinner and chat if not in LA maybe the next time you are in Australia or Ireland (we could discuss the merits of touching knights from the crusades 😉)

    Reply

    1. Tim ,very very interesting.I think you are getting better with time on podcast.I need to win this,I will turn the stalker mode on facebook.Too bad no minotaurs.

      Reply

  42. Great interview – listening now … shared the link on my Quora page asking others for their comments so expect more traffic.

    Reply

  45. Ha ha – Wish I had a bigger picture – there’s a thousand words!

    Looking forward to it – during my chill time later. Thanks, Tim for the super valuable service to the crowd. Looking up.

    Reply

  46. Here we go! Time to win the contest and ‘promote the hell out of this episode’. I have shared with my 5K Facebook friends on my personal and athlete pages and linked on my professional blog. I’m just getting started on this Tuesday morning so I’ll be sure to post more exciting promotion soon!

    Reply

  47. Game on and game over!. I could be the world’s greatest internet marketer (according to legend, Frank Kern). I have more traffic than a LA freeway and am currently promoting this like my life depends on it. Everyone else please don’t bother, it’s futile!… Look fwd to dinner Tim 🙂

    Reply

  48. Hi Tim

    I have been listening to a number of your podcasts, primarily due to the exceptional guests you have. Unfortunately, due to your interviewing style, I find the podcasts simply not that well done, and I find myself getting strangely irritated when you talk, often abandoning the episodes in mid podcast.

    Here’s the feedback (hope it’s constructive):

    -You almost always repeat yourself, what you’re saying, sometime 2 or 3 times…just say what you want to say and then “be quiet” don’t fear the silence. Podcasts could be shortened by 20% if you stop repeating yourself.

    -You frequently talk in ellipses, phrases nested within each other, self reverencing, quite annoying.

    -Too much circling back to the 4 Hour Workweek/Body. We know who you are and your books.

    By the way, I have bought all your books and am a big fan, just struggle to listen to your podcast, remember, it’s not about you, it’s about the guest.

    Chris

    Reply

  51. HELLOOOO Tim-

    In response to your contest I wanted to see what you thought about the blog I published–http://buildingabrandonline.com/groupgrowth/

    It was just my take on the podcast and I was able to send it out to my audience via email, twitter and instagram.

    I always appreciate your content and I hope I was able to do it justice.

    Reply

  52. Hey Tim! Gotta love the Governator! There’s been great content every week here. I shared this on my facebook, LinkedIn, guildlaunch and Twitter.

    Reply

  53. Awesome podcast Tim! So many things about Arnold that I didn’t know 🙂 I’ve promoted this via all my social accounts, have friends promoting it as well, and I’m even running paid ads at it to help you boost the visibility.

    Reply

  56. What a great interview! There’s wasn’t any ‘promo’ hidden in any of your interviews. Truly authentic person. I’ve started reading a lot of your work having learned of you couple weeks ago. Thank you for sharing.

    So Tim – How do you land interviews these interviews? $, network or both?

    Reply

    1. In the 4hr work week Tim writes about how to contact anyone and the challenge he put out to top notch university students. Results he found are shocking and inspiring. Really a good book well worth the read !

      Reply

  58. Shared your link on my Facebook and LinkedIn networks.

    “I need some luck this week, so I thought I would share this. Tim Ferriss has been someone I’ve been following for a while, and he’s always putting out great content on his podcasts. This hour long interview is one of the best I’ve seen. Better than anything on TV in my opinion.”

    Awesome show Tim, keep it going!

    Reply

  60. Hi Tim,

    I shared your latest podcast with Arnold on my LinkedIn page since it’s where my network would find it most valuable. And I live in the SF Bay Area!

    -DB

    Reply

  61. Hey Tim,

    Amazing episode. Continued thanks for all you do to serve your audience and make us all better. Here is the marketing campaign I’ve designed and executed over the past couple days. I look forward to seeing how the traffic builds for this one…really valuable content for anyone looking to improve, or just listen from one of the great achievers of our time.

    You can find the marketing campaign on this google doc: http://bit.ly/1yCYhiY

    I’ve also included the goals and execution below. Please excuse the formatting. Note: within each tactic, I’ve included a link to either the post or share to show whats been done. It doesn’t show up in this direct post, but feel free to refer to the google doc for that proof.

    Good luck with the contest, and looking forward to the chance to sit down over some vino and steak 🙂

    ————————————————–

    Goal:

    To successfully promote the Arnold Schwarzenegger episode (ep. 60)

    Driving clicks to the itunes page, Tim’s blog, or direct streaming link

    fourhourworkweek.com/arnold

    Note: the shortlink above is not working, using the longer link here

    Who is the captive audience for this episode? (brainstorming)

    *fans of:

    Arnold Schwarzenegger

    Bodybuilding

    Entrepreneurship

    Politics

    republicans…maybe more specifically centrists

    fitness

    Meditation leading to success

    Movies

    Conan

    Terminator films

    Total Recall

    Twins & his other comedies

    Ivan Reitman

    Psychology, psychological warfare

    Motivation

    Leadership

    Lifelong learning

    Execution

    *REDDIT

    *Contribute a valuable post on targeted subreddits

    *Do not break each specific subreddits rules on posting

    r/getmotivated

    Audience: 2.3 + mil

    Link to post or link:: http://redd.it/2ung7q

    r/stoicism

    Audience: 19k +

    Link to post or link: http://redd.it/2unpoh

    r/bodybuilding

    Audience: 87k +

    Link to post or link: http://redd.it/2unvd4

    r/entrepreneur

    Audience: 113k +

    Link to post or link: http://redd.it/2unykz

    r/economics

    Audience: 205k +

    Could not post due to rules

    r/arnoldschwarzenegger

    Audience: 4,098

    Link to post or link: http://redd.it/2uo79j

    Lifelong learning

    subreddit r/todayilearned – 7 mil +

    can’t post:

    *Linkedin

    *Contribute a valuable post to specific Linkedin groups

    Personal Linkedin Network

    Audience: 1500 connections

    Link to post: (screenshot in google doc)

    4 Hour Workweek

    Audience: 1,259 members

    Link to post: (screenshot in google doc)

    Bodybuilding & Fitness forum

    Audience: 9,800

    Link to post: (screenshot in google doc)

    Bodybuilding & Fitness Lifestyles (different than above)

    Audience: 9,743

    Link to post: (screenshot in google doc)

    Facebook

    Personal facebook page share:

    Audience: 987 friends

    Link to post or share: https://www.facebook.com/domenic.dinardo

    Arnold Schwarzenegger the Legend (different than Arnold’s personal page)

    Audience: 833,122 likes

    Link to post or share: https://www.facebook.com/arnoldlegend

    The Terminator

    Audience: 3,841,334 likes

    Link to post or share: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Terminator/181221288646788

    Conan the Barbarian

    Audience: 299,372 likes

    Link to post or share: https://www.facebook.com/ConanTheBarbarianMovie

    The Arnold Fans

    Audience: 190,878

    Link to post or share: https://www.facebook.com/TheArnoldFans

    Schwarzenegger (Italy)

    Audience: 19k +

    Link to post or share: https://www.facebook.com/Schwarzenegger.it

    Twitter

    Personal Twitter share:

    Audience: 681 followers

    Post: (screenshot in google doc)

    The Arnold Fans

    Audience: 13,500

    Post: (screenshot in google doc)

    Jonah Lupton

    Audience: 779,000

    Post: (screenshot in google doc)

    Some initial thoughts after this campaign:

    *I initially thought Reddit would be a strong way to promote the podcast, especially given the ability to target specific groups who are interested in this content. However, that is not the case today. I’ve seen four out of my six posts pulled back because of it being called “spam”. While I would strongly disagree given I believe in the value of the content, it seems my argument is going nowhere this week.

    *Facebook became a better avenue than I originally anticipated.

    Reply

    1. Nice one Nick! Really like your very targeted approach.

      Just a suggestion on how to get around the spam filtering: instead of only posting the link, a few sentences with the main topics discussed and what the value add is of listening, could go around this spam filter.

      I believe this filter screens for only links as first posts without much content (<- assumption)

      Why don’t my submissions show up on the New page?

      reddit has a spam filter designed to detect spam posts and automatically remove them. However, legitimate posts are often caught by the filter. If a few minutes go by and your post isn’t showing up on the new page of the community where you posted, it has probably been caught by the filter. This is most likely to occur if you are posting to a community that you have not participated in before. Each community has an independent filter, for example /r/help’s filter doesn’t talk to /r/pic’s filter. In order to remove your post from the filter you need to message the moderators (this link can be found in the sidebar on the right-hand in that community, you can also manually compose a message to #communityname) and ask them to check the filter for you. Eventually the filter will “learn” that your posts don’t need to be removed.

      Then again we all know reddit is a potential treasure trove and cesspit of civilisation.

      That and all the down-vote-troll-bots …

      btw, I hope you did see that Tim told us to use #arnoldpod at the top of our comment to be considered for his little competition?

      Either way … good luck!

      Reply

      1. Jochen,

        Thanks for the feedback and the suggestions for Reddit going forward. Really helpful.

        As detailed as I can be, I can’t believe I forgot to add Arnold Pod to my submission. I am going to resubmit with that included at the top. Thank you very much 🙂

        Nick

    2. #arnoldpod

      Hey Tim,

      My original submission is above, but I needed to include the hashtag #arnoldpod, so here is the revised submission. My apologies for missing this detail. Below you’ll find the full submission. Thanks, and looking forward to the opportunity.

      ——————————————-

      Amazing episode. Continued thanks for all you do to serve your audience and make us all better. Here is the marketing campaign I’ve designed and executed over the past couple days. I look forward to seeing how the traffic builds for this one…really valuable content for anyone looking to improve, or just listen from one of the great achievers of our time.

      You can find the marketing campaign on this google doc: http://bit.ly/1yCYhiY

      I’ve also included the goals and execution below. Please excuse the formatting. Note: within each tactic, I’ve included a link to either the post or share to show whats been done. It doesn’t show up in this direct post, but feel free to refer to the google doc for that proof.

      Good luck with the contest, and looking forward to the chance to sit down over some vino and steak 🙂

      ————————————————–

      Goal:

      To successfully promote the Arnold Schwarzenegger episode (ep. 60)

      Driving clicks to the itunes page, Tim’s blog, or direct streaming link

      fourhourworkweek.com/arnold

      Note: the shortlink above is not working, using the longer link here

      Who is the captive audience for this episode? (brainstorming)

      *fans of:

      Arnold Schwarzenegger

      Bodybuilding

      Entrepreneurship

      Politics

      republicans…maybe more specifically centrists

      fitness

      Meditation leading to success

      Movies

      Conan

      Terminator films

      Total Recall

      Twins & his other comedies

      Ivan Reitman

      Psychology, psychological warfare

      Motivation

      Leadership

      Lifelong learning

      Execution

      *REDDIT

      *Contribute a valuable post on targeted subreddits

      *Do not break each specific subreddits rules on posting

      r/getmotivated

      Audience: 2.3 + mil

      Link to post or link:: http://redd.it/2ung7q

      r/stoicism

      Audience: 19k +

      Link to post or link: http://redd.it/2unpoh

      r/bodybuilding

      Audience: 87k +

      Link to post or link: http://redd.it/2unvd4

      r/entrepreneur

      Audience: 113k +

      Link to post or link: http://redd.it/2unykz

      r/economics

      Audience: 205k +

      Could not post due to rules

      r/arnoldschwarzenegger

      Audience: 4,098

      Link to post or link: http://redd.it/2uo79j

      Lifelong learning

      subreddit r/todayilearned – 7 mil +

      can’t post:

      *Linkedin

      *Contribute a valuable post to specific Linkedin groups

      Personal Linkedin Network

      Audience: 1500 connections

      Link to post: (screenshot in google doc)

      4 Hour Workweek

      Audience: 1,259 members

      Link to post: (screenshot in google doc)

      Bodybuilding & Fitness forum

      Audience: 9,800

      Link to post: (screenshot in google doc)

      Bodybuilding & Fitness Lifestyles (different than above)

      Audience: 9,743

      Link to post: (screenshot in google doc)

      Facebook

      Personal facebook page share:

      Audience: 987 friends

      Link to post or share: https://www.facebook.com/domenic.dinardo

      Arnold Schwarzenegger the Legend (different than Arnold’s personal page)

      Audience: 833,122 likes

      Link to post or share: https://www.facebook.com/arnoldlegend

      The Terminator

      Audience: 3,841,334 likes

      Link to post or share: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Terminator/181221288646788

      Conan the Barbarian

      Audience: 299,372 likes

      Link to post or share: https://www.facebook.com/ConanTheBarbarianMovie

      The Arnold Fans

      Audience: 190,878

      Link to post or share: https://www.facebook.com/TheArnoldFans

      Schwarzenegger (Italy)

      Audience: 19k +

      Link to post or share: https://www.facebook.com/Schwarzenegger.it

      Twitter

      Personal Twitter share:

      Audience: 681 followers

      Post: (screenshot in google doc)

      The Arnold Fans

      Audience: 13,500

      Post: (screenshot in google doc)

      Jonah Lupton

      Audience: 779,000

      Post: (screenshot in google doc)

      Some initial thoughts after this campaign:

      *I initially thought Reddit would be a strong way to promote the podcast, especially given the ability to target specific groups who are interested in this content. However, that is not the case today. I’ve seen four out of my six posts pulled back because of it being called “spam”. While I would strongly disagree given I believe in the value of the content, it seems my argument is going nowhere this week.

      *I am taking Jochen’s suggestion into consideration, and will be trying a new strategy to submit on those subreddits. Stay tuned 🙂

      *Facebook became a better avenue than I originally anticipated.

      Reply

      1. #arnoldpod

        Here are a couple of bulletpoints concerning what I’ve learned over the past couple of days for this contest:

        *The next time I do this, I anticipate that I’ll create a custom landing page (with LeadPages) to more accurately quantify the impact my marketing work has driven to your site. Can this be done when I am directing to your specific URL? Not sure. I’ll have to research this further.

        *Initially, I was disappointed with my Reddit execution. However, in the past three days, I’ve seen success in the r/arnoldschwarzenegger and r/stoicism subreddits (still being in the top 5 of each respective topic). I added content to both r/entrepreneur (113k subscribers) and r/zen habits (90k subscribers), both of which are captive audiences for this sort of podcast.

        *Facebook yields a massive potential audience, and an ability to target in a way that is more difficult on LinkedIn and to a lesser extent, Twitter.

        Just a couple of thoughts. Best of luck everyone.

        Nick

  62. Anyone with a slow connection wishes the downloads of the audio were on a resumable server. If I am trying to work and download, triggering resumes, it just restarts the entire download – a 70MB dl can become infinite. Kind of dumb for an effectivity blog.

    This earlier post from 6:32AM even disappeared. Perhaps you have judged me a troll? Maybe — and if so – so be it.

    Ha ha – Wish I had a bigger picture – there’s a thousand words!

    Looking forward to it – during my chill time later. Thanks, Tim for the super valuable service to the crowd. Looking up.

    Reply

    1. Found the missing post. Not an inadequate beta. BTW my stupid connection speed averages 7.5kbs in the overage of my cell month. They’re trying to build a new tower this year….

      Reply

  67. Interesting interview, I was hoping to find what his morning ritual was, that would’ve been pretty interesting to hear, and Tim do you know beforehand that your guests use or have used meditation?

    Reply

  68. Hi Tim,

    I’ll be linking this in my daily emails until the 6th Feb (about coming up to 11,000 people daily).

    I’ll also be sharing it each day on our social media pages (usually reaches about 17,000 a week depending on how good the headlines are. Obviously they’ll be some crossover here but c’est la vie)

    Should work as a bit of a two way street because my guys are all about the gym stuff and the big man will be right up their street. I’ll also ask that the lads share the interview on there own pages in the hope that it will hit enough people to cause a cascade.

    Check your twitters as well

    #TIM&ARNIE #TALKTOTERMINATOR #LEARNTOWIN

    Reply

  69. So I have posted this to my LinkedIn network http://www.linkedin.com/in/lagoyjessica (412 first connections but possibly as many as 100,000 plus opportunities for viewing if you consider second connections). Shared publicly on my personal FB. Tweeted out from my muse business Twitter account and tagged your blog and some fan blogs for you an Arnold. Most importantly- I’ve now shared this out to my students (I lecture at UNCW) and am offering them extra credit on an existing project if they can tell me how I could have used information systems I currently have at hand to have shared this out more successfully before the end of the week.

    Reply

  70. Tim Ferris asked me to promote the hell out of this episode, and asked us to comment on how we did it. I thought for a moment to outsource this task, because I feel this is what the four hour week would want me to do, but instead thought for a moment about how I could reach the most people with the smallest amount of work on my part. I could drive a few clicks by posting it on my Facebook, or my twitter, and a few more by asking my followers to re-post and re-tweet but Arnold’s most loyal soldiers are in the bodybuilding community. Everyone in that community loves that man and worships him like a patron saint. I am not a bodybuilder so I sent a quick text to two bodybuilder friends. They gave me names, Kai Greene with 3,049,134 likes on his page, so I posted the link to his timeline, then Phil Heath, 3,000,333 likes, and I sent him a message asking him to post the link (let’s see if he does), Jay Cutler 5,546,162 also got a timeline post, and Ronnie Coleman received a message from me with the link asking him to post to his 20,789 followers.

    Reply

      1. Last one, just though bodybuilding.com posted to their facebook timeline. I could be off by a few but I would estimate that I have now put this link in the eyes of over 10 million people over the next few days.

    2. Like your approach! Very targeted. 🙂

      I personally outsourced most of the posts to reach an as large audience as possible (some of these groups are ‘click’ happy).

      I guess it all depends on what goals Tim has set for this: add the most value to the most amount of people (so people who would have been interested, but may not have been exposed to the podcast)

      versus the other extreme:

      just driving traffic to his sites (for obvious reasons).

      I assume the truth is in the middle, but only Tim can shed a light on that.

      His personal mission and vision leans more towards the former goal, whereas some parts of his entrepreneurs-soul, probably lean towards the latter goal.

      All of this in my humble opinion and two €-cents (which we know is not worth that much atm 🙂 )

      Reply

  71. Ok Im in for the win on one condition…. We get to roll when I’m in SF Gi or no Gi either way 🙂 I’m driving traffic through my facebook. I have a ton of friends and I posted that I will tap you out with a wrist lock if they will like my post and click the link to yours! Results of the likes to follow at the end of the contest. (Ill bring Marcos Santos if you want) 🙂

    Xman

    Reply

  72. This was a great conversation between 2 very inspiring individuals.

    Arnold is my face of success, he’s mastered so many domains and is the demonstration of what can be achieved with a clear vision and hard work.

    I have personally forwarded a link to this blog to everyone on my mailing list and retweeted + favourited the link on twitter – this may reach 50 people. I am also streaming the episode at from my desk at full volume – this may reach up to 100 people in my department.

    Reply

  73. This was so good I started over again so I could take notes. Confidence comes from having a vision. So much of what he talks about our contributors to anyone success. How much he has chosen to give back to his adopted country is phenomenal. Very interesting Man and highly observant

    Reply

  74. Hi Tim, great interview! One of your best so far 🙂

    Arnold mentioned that he couldn’t make the same gains he did investing in apartment buildings today, but said that there was another area of real estate that you could make those kinds of gains today, however he didn’t mention what that was. Do you happen to know what he was talking about?

    Reply

    1. Hey, @jpierson8 I’m not entirely sure which area he’s referring to, but I just answered a similar question over on Quora. Don’t want to just thrown a link in here, you can find it by searching Arnold and Real Estate, I think. It might be helpful for you. Cheers!

      Reply

  79. Awesome podcast. Thanks to you and Arnold for putting together a great show and some very insightful things to learn. Many gems in this podcast.

    Kudos!!

    Reply

  80. I was a huge fan of Arnold for most of my life. But once it came out that he cheated on his wife — with their live-in housekeeper — and had a child with her…AND was lying to his wife all those years as that child grew up in their own home with the mistress living right there too…forget it. Despite idolizing the man for decades, today I have zero respect for him. I’m not even going to bother listening to the interview. He disgusts me.

    Reply

    1. Everyone makes mistakes in their life Chris, including you. Maybe you should accept that he made a big one and that he has learned from it.

      Reply

  81. Great interview!

    Between this and Pavel the other day it just keeps getting better! Looking forward to seeing you in Monterey in a couple weeks! Thanks for the great stuff!

    Reply

  82. Hey Tim,

    I have a question,

    How are you gonna know who specifically drove the biggest traffic to you? Because by promoting it I honestly have no idea how to attach myself to it. But yeah my way will be recommend a listen to my friends, specific groups on facebook, then post it as my status on facebook as well, then share it through another surprise thingy.

    Reply

    1. that is a very good question. I don’t think he can unless we would have had personalised links.

      On the other hand, twitter and co might allow us to see how many people retweeted the tweets. And some of us with business profiles with FB might see a hell of a lot more.

      That said, my understanding of his little competition is that his magical faeries will just decide which story they like the best, without any real quantification of effective clicks (just the potential targeted audience as some folks have done very nicely here).

      The point of all this is that the podcasts are really that good and should be shared with the world! And that is what we are all doing. Every single one of us is chipping in 🙂

      Reply

  83. Great podcast, would be super interested in round 2 with Arnold. About to Netflix Kindergarten Cop after listening to this. Also listened to Mararet Cho during my trip to Costco and not sure if this book was a suggestion from you but A Simple Act of Gratitude was my favorite book I read in 2014. A great read on the subject of Gratitude.

    Reply

  84. I have shared it on twitter, tumblr & Facebook.

    This is by far one of my favorite interviews you have done. So much actionable advice and great insight into Arnold’s mindset.

    I am going to implement some of his psychological warfare techniques immediately.

    Reply

  86. Shared it on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.

    Also listened to it with my team at work because all the actionable advice in it. I work in the healthcare industry and admire what you and Arnold are striving for.

    I enjoyed the interview on many fronts. I will be implementing some of his psychological warfare techniques immediately.

    Reply

  91. Hi Tim, I as well was a Facebook and Twitter monkey. Incredible interview – topped off by the brief history lesson on Cincinnatus. More proof that high achievers of the sort you interview are generally more interesting than anyone typically presumes.

    Reply

  92. How could you get sponsorships and manage to refuse providing transcript for deaf people like me?

    I am still waiting for all transcripts you promise to provide.

    Reply

    1. Sounds like you got a muse. Hire a virtual assistant to transcribe podcast then start a web site and license the content. Boom !

      Reply

  93. Tim i called all my friend and family shouting how good this podcast is. Then I get a email asking to promote it. It’s so good ! I same as you, read total recall a bit before. So good, I really enjoyed Arnold in his own voice.

    I would have asked very similar questions. Getting back to the promoting. I’m not computer savvy as you start up techies. But getting the word out old fashion, is how I get results. I showed it to people that have never listened to a podcast and showed them how to do it. Most people I talk too have no idea what the podcast icon looks like. It’s such a great resource and FREE !!! Turn on your podcast and wait for a mind blow.

    None the less great content ! I’ve been listning to 4hr work week on repeat since I’ve gotten the nectar island Email. It would be a life changer, I’ve already gotten ideas and put them into place but none with shopify, YET!

    It would be a huge honor to meet you. I would love to donate money to a charity of your choice if I don’t get selected this time… I work in Northen alberta Canada, heart of the oil field and the 4hr books have helped my life in many different ways.

    Reply

  94. I am going to win this competition!

    I used (and will continue to use) EVERY so media platform to promote this article and drive traffic.

    – I started off by posting to my facebook account and having several of the most prominent people I know repost on their pages for me to help increase the traffic to the post. I also posted within several groups I am apart of. I also posted on two fan pages I have (1 for business and 1 for a leisure blog my friends and I run)

    – I posted to both my twitter accounts @Sdot_bell and @BELivingLarge asking my followers to click the links and help drive traffic and help me win the competition

    – I posted on my linkedin Page and asked my connections to click for the traffic and the competition

    – I live in China so I also use Wechat which is the main messaging and social media application used hear and posted via my moments and withing several large groups I am apart of trying to drive clicks from each group as well as all the contacts I have available.

    In addiition will also be posting from my sociopal and repost to my social media accounts until the competition is finished.

    I also asked posters who come to the blog to post my name to note that I was the reason they read or saw the post.!

    Reply

  96. Simply epic Tim,

    I have followed Arnold for a long time from reading all of his books to doing all of his workouts. I feel that this interview was the only interview that he truly talked about himself like he does in his books. I think this was a great resource and I will listed to it again just to get a better insight into this great man.

    Reply

  98. Wrote a blog post about this on my martial arts training site. Referring to inside the mind of Arnold, psychological warfare, confidence, and meditation and how this could be applied to combat sports. Thanks Tim great podcast!

    Reply

  99. Eyyyyyyyyyyy (ala Fonzie style)

    When I saw Pumping Iron I knew Arnold had that psychological edge that would be transferable through business, Hollywood, politics, and beyond. Particularly loved his passion for after school initatives to keep kids focused and engaged and his entreprenual genius mind always looking for opportunities even before he made it big with Conan, Predator and Terminator (and all dis kinds of stuff) spoken in his true Arnold Austrian accent).

    Was particularly impressed with his decision to invest in real estate making him a millionaire before he even made it big in Hollywood so that he wouldn’t be desperate Just to make a living.

    Thanks Tim for the great interview questions with Arnold, and for allowing us to have a more personal glimpse into a legendary figures life. I think Arnold is such a huge crowd pleaser because he shows how someone coming from humble origins can live a truly extraordinary life by taking chances and laughing fear in the face. I respect the man even more after listening to your podcast. Well done Tim! You’re a genius in your own right for being able to land an epic interview with the Governator. 🙂

    Reply

  100. Should I spend my “4 hours” this week promoting this? Would Tim do it if he were in my shoes?

    The answer to both questions is no.

    This is the kind of contest that either thousands will enter and I will have little to no chance, or few will enter because they assume thousands will enter. In case it is the latter, then I am in! Promoting the hell out of something can be relative. I don’t promote other people’s product often so the fact that I retweeted you is my promoting the hell out of something. So you got me to do it. Great job! (The truth is, it was an AWESOME podcast). So I completed #1 and I am completing #2 with this post.

    So would Tim spend hours promoting this if he was in our shoes? Given the low chance of winning, I think we know the answer. But your “ask” is still genius because it will certainly get people to promote you, but ironically – and here is the most critical point – people who embody what you are about will NOT spend a lot of their resources promoting this. Of course, the winner will feel it was the best use of her/his time, but the (likely) thousands of others will be arguably wasting theirs.

    Huge fan,

    Phil

    Reply