World renowned actor, body builder and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger held on to six rules of success that took him to the top of his career.

Speaking at the Global Transformation Forum in Kuala Lumpur, the 68-year-old shared the six rules that transformed him from a farmer in Austria to become a world superstar, to more than 2,000 delegates.

Arnold, well known as Mr Terminator for his role in the science fiction series, ‘Terminator’, believes that anyone can achieve success by following the six rules.

“First rule is have a vision and aim which will guide you to the path of success. Second is never ever think small, try to be the greatest on whatever you do and thirdly, ignore the no-sayers and prove that you can achieve anything.

“Besides that, you'll also need to avoid having a plan B because having an alternative plan means you are not believing in yourself,” he said in his highly inspirational speech titled ‘Discipline Of Action’ at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) today.

Arnold’s fifth rule for success is to work hard to achieve success and explained how much he hated when people say they don’t have time to exercise or for anything which could further improve their life.

The last secret of success from the ‘Terminator’ is not just receive but give back to the society and create one’s own mark in the world.

“I am not a self-made success. When I migrated to the United States (US), I did not have anything, even money and food... It was Thanksgiving season and the people in the neighbourhood approached me with food, furniture and even a black and white television set.

“No one goes to the top only with victories, but everyone has to face setbacks. The difference between winners and losers is the winners always wake up and move forward when they have failures while losers just give up,” he added.

Born in Thal, Austria in 1947, Arnold started his interest in body building when he was just 15 and became the youngest ever person to win the Mr Universe title at the age of 20.

Eyeing Hollywood fame, Arnold later migrated to the US and won five Mr Universe and seven Mr Olympia titles before fully dedicating himself to the film industry and later gained a degree from University of Wisconsin and became a naturalised citizen of the US.

‘Never think small’

“As I said, never think small. When I decided to serve the people of the US, I wanted to go for the greatest of all the title and decided for the highest post a non-American-born can go, which is the governor, that was at the greatest state in the US, California,” he said.

During his two terms at office from 2003 to 2010, he fully committed himself to serve the people, which he described as the most satisfying and gratifying job he had done till today.

Among the notable efforts of Mr Terminator as the California governor was combating climate change and developing renewable energy besides implementing the Global Warming Solutions Act 2006.

“Seven million people die every year all over the world, which is more than anything else. The greatest movement will not come from capitals, but it came from people, we must rise up to save our environment,” he said.

Delighted by the warm welcome from Malaysians, he promised to return and ended the session by saying: “Hasta la vista, baby!”

- Bernama