"VISION"
A FILM BY SIMON SCHEERENS
People ask me all the time,
They say to me; What is the secret to success?
The first rule is: Trust yourself.
And what I mean by that is that so many young
people are getting so much advice from their parents
and from their teachers and from everyone..
But what is most important is,
that you have to dig deep down, dig deep down,
and ask yourself; Who do you want to be?
Not what - but who.
And I'm talking about not what your parents
and teachers want you to be - but YOU.
I'm talking about figuring out for yourselves,
what makes you happy?
No matter how crazy it may sound to the people.
So rule number one is of course trust yourself
no matter how and what anyone else thinks.
And then of course rule number two is;
Break the rules.
We have so many rules in life about everything.
I say break the rules, not the law, but break the rules.
It is impossible to be a maverick or a true original,
if you're to well behaved, and not want to break the rules.
You have to think outside the box.
That's what I believe after all.
What is the point of being on this earth,
if all you want to do is be like the everyone
and avoid trouble.
The only way that I got ever any place
was to breaking some of the rules.
Which of course brings me,
to rule number three.
Don't be afraid to fail.
Anything I've ever attempted,
I was always willing to fail.
You can't always win, but don't be afraid
of making decisions.
You can't be paralyzed by fear or 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.
Which brings me to rule number four
which is don't listen to the naysayers.
I mean, how many times have you heard that;
"You can't do this, and you can't do that,
and that it has never been done before."
I love it when someone says that no one has
ever done this before, because then when I do it,
that means that I'm the first one that has done it.
So pay no attention to the people that say
that it can't be done.
That brings me to rule number five
which is the most important rule of all;
Work your butt off.
You never want to fail because you
didn’t work hard enough.
I never wanted to lose a competition or lose
an election because I didn't work hard enough.
I always believed; "Leaving no stone unturned."
Muhammad Ali, one of my great heroes, 
had a great line in the ’70s when he was asked,
“How many sit-ups do you do?”
He said, “I don’t count my sit-ups. 
I only start counting when it starts hurting.
When I feel pain, that’s when I start counting, 
because that’s when it really counts.”
That's what makes you a champion.
That's the way it is with everything.
No pain - no gain.
So many of those lessons that I apply in life
that I've learned from sports, and especially that one.
But let me tell you; It is important,
to have fun in life, of course.
But when you’re out there partying, horsing around,
someone out there at the same time is working hard.
Someone is getting smarter and someone is winning. 
Just remember that.
Now, if you want to coast through life, 
don’t pay attention to any of those rules.
But if you want to win, there is 
absolutely no way around hard, hard work.
None of my rules to success will work
unless you do.
I've always figured out that there is 24 hours
a day. You sleep 6 hours.
Then there is 18 hours left.
This vision didn't just help me with bodybuilding
it helped with me everything like I said.
I remember in the movie business,
there was many times stunts, that I had to do
where I got hurt, that I was in pain, agony,
that I had to do it over and over again.
I remember one incident specifically on
"Conan The Barbarian".
There I was, crawling on all four over rocks
and gravel, holding my sword right in front of me.
and as I was crawling the camera followed me it was 
around thirty feet that I was crawlin in rocks and this gravel.
and eventually after ten takes my elbows,
my knees started bleeding and hurting.
and the director came to me sheepishly and said to me;
"Do you mind if we do another take? I need a close-up of you."
And I him said no I don't mind at all. 
I said go and do as many takes as you want.
He said no I don't want to do that because 
I know you're in pain you're bleeding.
I said no no I don't feel any pain I say 
the only thing I see is the finished scene.
Just remember, you can’t climb the ladder
of success with your hands in your pockets.
And that takes me to rule number six;
Whatever path that you take in your lives,
you must always find time to give something back.
Something back to your community, give something 
back to your state or to your country.
So let me tell you, as you prepare to go off
into the world, remember the six rules;
Trust yourself;
Break some rules;
Don't be afraid to fail;
Ignore the naysayers;
Work like hell;
And give something back.
