There are many places where you can get advice about how to live your life. There is no shortage of people willing to sell you a solution for your problems or tell you what you are doing wrong.
While not all advice that is out there is necessarily true or valuable, I have found that occasionally you find a diamond that can really help you in your personal journey.
I recently saw a very motivational video from a speech given by Matthew McConaughey. After watching it, I felt it was definitely worth sharing.
I did some research to try and find the original source of this speech. At least some of it was from a commencement speech McConaughey gave in 2018. Whenever it was given though, it is great.
If you want to watch the video, it is available here. I took the time to transcribe it for those who would prefer to read it. I hope you enjoy it.
Matthew McConaughey’s Life Advice
I’m going to talk to you about some things that I’ve learned in my journey… most from experience, some of them I’ve heard in passing, many of them I’m still practicing, but all of them I do believe are true.
Life is not easy! It is not! Don’t try to make it that way. Life’s not fair. It never was, it isn’t now and it won’t ever be. Do not fall into the trap. The entitlement trap of feeling like you’re a victim. You are not. Get over it and get on with it.
So the question that we’ve got to ask ourselves is what success is to us, what success is to you. Is it more money? That’s fine, I’ve got nothing against money. Maybe it’s a healthy family. Maybe it’s a happy marriage. Maybe it’s to help others. To be famous. To be spiritually sound. To leave the world a little bit of a better place than you found it. Continue to ask yourself that question.
Now, your answer may change over time and that’s fine. But do yourself this favor: whatever your answer is, don’t choose anything that will jeopardize your soul.
Prioritize who you are, who you want to be, and don’t spend time with anything that antagonizes your character.
Be brave. Take the hill. But first answer that question “What’s my hill?” So, first we have to define success for ourselves. And then we have to put in the work to maintain it.
Make that daily tally.
Tend to our garden.
Keep the things that are important to us in good shape.
Where you are not is as important as where you are. It is just as important where we are not as it is where we are.
Look, the first step that leads to our identity in life is usually not “I know who I am.” “I know who I am.” That’s not the first step. The first step is usually “I know who I am not.”
Process of elimination.
Defining ourselves by what we are not is the first step that leads us to really knowing who we are.
You know that group of friends that you hang out with that really might not bring out the best in you? You know… they gossip too much or they’re kind of shady… they really aren’t going to be there for you in a pinch.
Or how about that bar that we keep going to that we always seem to have the worst hangover from?
Or, that computer screen, right? That computer screen that keeps giving us an excuse not to get out of the house and engage with the world and get some real human interaction?
Or how about that food that we keep eating? That stuff that tastes so good going down, but makes us feel like crap the next week, when we feel lethargic and we keep putting on weight?
Well… those people, those places, those things… stop giving them your time and energy! Just don’t go there! I mean, put them down!
And when you do this, when you put them down, when you quit going there, when you quit giving them your time, you inadvertently find yourself spending more time and in more places that are healthy for you, that bring you more joy.
Why? Because you just eliminated the whos, the wheres, the whats and the whens that were keeping you from your identity.
Trust me, too many options… I promise you, too many options will make a tyrant of us all. So get rid of the excess, the wasted time. Decrease your options. And if you do this, you will have accidentally, almost innocently, put in front of you what is important to you by process of elimination.
Knowing who you are is hard. It’s hard. Give yourself a break.
Eliminate who you are not first and you’re going to find yourself where you need to be.
Instead of creating outcomes that take from us, let’s create more outcomes that pay us back. Fill us up. Keep your fire lit, turn you on for the most amount of time in your future.
We try our best. We don’t always do our best. Our architecture is a verb as well. And since we are the architects of our own lives, let’s study the habits, the practices, the routines that we have that lead to and feed our success. Our joy. Our honest pain. Our laughter. Our earned tears. Let’s dissect that, guess what happens? We get better at them! And we have more to dissect.
Be discerning.
Choose it because you want it. Do it because you want to.
We’re going to make mistakes. You’ve got to own them. Then you’ve got to make amends. And then you’ve got to move on.
Guilt and regret kills many a man before their time. So turn the page. Get off the ride.
You are the author of the book of your life.
Conclusion
I am not going to try and add my own thoughts to this because I think it is the kind of advice that is most valuable when we take the time to determine how we can best apply it in our own, individual lives.
Please take the time to think what part of this advice you can best use in your own life. I hope that you can find a diamond of advice that can help your future be better and brighter.