“Krampus”: The Austrian Demon That Arnold Schwarzenegger Is Informing Americans About, via His Book ‘Be Useful’

Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s twenties were glorious with bodybuilding victories. From his thirties to his mid-fifties, Arnie was a Hollywood action superstar. In the following decade, the Austrian Oak left a lasting impact on politics as the Governor of California. But in his fourth quarter of life, Schwarzenegger is up to motivating his followers by sharing his life story.

The 76-year-old recently published his first self-help book, Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life. Recently, a fan on X shared a snippet from the book that spilled the beans on the Austrian demon Krampus.

Arnold Schwarzenegger narrates a childhood tale of horror

The 7x Mr. Olympia motivated himself to achieve greatness in life. But it would be wrong to assume that Arnie’s journey towards success is devoid of negativity. The 76-year-old used all the criticism that came his way to shine brighter. So, Schwarzenegger revealed a childhood story in his latest book, reinforcing his motivation to make it big.

Schwarzenegger revealed about a common upbringing in Austria during his time. The story involves a demon-like figure used to mend kids during Arnie’s childhood. In the book, Arnie wrote, “Growing up in Austria, all forms of motivation involved negative reinforcement.” “At Christmastime, when St. Nicholas visits your house to bring presents to all the good boys and girls, he comes with a demon-like figure called Krampus with huge horns, whose role is to punish all the bad kids and to scare them straight.”

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Arnie’s Krampus was his downstairs neighbor. An X user shared the story from Arnie’s latest book and added, “The Austrians sure have a way with child-rearing.” Reposting the tweet, Schwarzenegger opined, “If my book teaches Americans about Krampus, it’s a success. Thanks for reading!” Despite helping parents discipline kids, the entire drama pushed Arnie to resolve for better things in life.

The Austrian Oak is differently wired

While such fear-inducing incidents will demotivate many, Arnie is built differently. Many kids ensured not to cross the line because of Krampus’ fear, but the horror story pushed Schwarzenegger to get out of Austria and focus on better things.

“But for a select few who were wired differently, that kind of negative reinforcement produced something else: motivation. Not to “be good,” but to get out,” Schwarzenegger revealed in his book. And ever since, Arnie has taken all the criticism in stride to become better. Despite initial setbacks as an actor, he became an action sensation in the 1980s, proving his doubters wrong.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to contribute to society to keep up with his father’s advice of being useful. Hence, he shared his success mantra with the youth through his self-help book. Have you purchased your copy yet? Let us know in the comments below!