Arnold Schwarzenegger
The story of how Arnold Schwarzenegger achieved his dreams of becoming a world-class bodybuilder is a tale of how working hard can help you become all you want to be.
When Arnold was only 13 years old, he announced to his parents that he wanted to become a bodybuilder - not exactly what his parents had dreamed for their son. Arnold was very dedicated to his dream and at 14 he began training with Kurt Marnul, a former Mr. Austria and by 17 he was entering competitions.
In addition to training his body, he also studied psychology to learn about the power of the mind over the body. At first he was competing in the junior leagues of body builders and even won Mr. Europe Junior, but by age 19 he was moved into competing on a more advanced level.
He swept many competitions at the young age of 19, including Mr. Europe, International Powerlifting Champion, and the title Best Built Man in Europe. He then set his sights on the Mr. Universe title - and although he was a famous bodybuilder by now, he did not win that competition.
Arnold took this loss as motivation to improve his body and he worked hard for the next year in order to compete again. When he returned to Mr Universe one year later, he was in even better physical shape and he won the title easily from the competition. At the age of 20, he was the youngest Mr. Universe ever and he had reached all of his dreams.
Over the next three years, he then continued to capture other titles and moved into professional divisions of weightlifting and bodybuilding. Some of the titles he achieved were Mr. World, Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia.
By the age of 23, Arnold had achieved every major title in the bodybuilding field. Although he continued bodybuilding for many more years, he began to move on to his next big dream, to become the most popular film star in the world.