Arnold Schwarzenegger: regardless of whether you love him or hate him, you can’t deny that the guy has had an impact. We all know who he is, and we’ve all talked about him at some point or another. He’s a force of nature.

He’s a decision-maker. Some of his decisions are good; some aren’t. He’s not afraid to decide.

Oddly, I recently found myself watching Arnold’s commencement speech to the University of Southern California from a few years back. He runs through his six rules of success. They’re solid. He gives good advice.

Of the six, the Arnold rule that helps lawyers the most is Rule Number 3: Don’t be afraid to fail. That’s good advice, and we need it.

Arnold says,

Anything I’ve ever attempted, I was always willing to fail. In the movie business, I remember that you pick scripts. Many times, you think this is a winning script, but then, of course, you find out later on, when you do the movie, that it didn’t work, and the movie goes in the toilet.

Now, we have seen my movies: I mean, Red Sonja, Hercules in New York, Last Action Hero. Those movies went in the toilet. But that’s OK, because at the same time, I made movies like Terminator and Conan and True Lies and Predator and Twins that went through the roof.

So you can’t always win, but don’t be afraid of making decisions.

You can’t be paralyzed by fear of failure or you will never push yourself. You keep pushing because you believe in yourself and in your vision and you know that it is the right thing to do, and success will come. So don’t be afraid to fail.

Fear of failure results in decision paralysis. We can’t be afraid to make decisions. Action is the essential first step in our success. All action follows a decision. Failure to decide is a perfect formula for failure.

Personally, I’d rather decide, take action, and fail than do nothing. Sure, for the moment, I suffer a setback. But failing to decide is always preceded and followed by more failure to decide. Decisions are the opposite. Decisions are preceded and followed by more decisions. More decisions result in more success.

Sometimes good advice comes from unusual places. Thanks, Arnold.

Here’s the speech in its entirety: