Matthew McConaughey Shares his Trick for Getting What You Want

The video is about Matthew McConaughey sharing his trick for getting what you want, which involves knowing yourself and finding your own personal style.

The video features an interview between Matthew McConaughey and Tom Bilyeu on the latter's show, Impact Theory. McConaughey talks about his recently published book, Greenlights, and how he came to write it. He also discusses the importance of knowing oneself and finding one's personal style, which involves eliminating things that do not align with one's true self. McConaughey emphasizes the value of being authentic and true to oneself, rather than trying to please others.

• Matthew McConaughey wrote his book Greenlights himself, drawing from his diaries and journals.
• Knowing oneself is important for finding personal style and achieving success.
• Matthew McConaughey believes in finding one's own path and embracing failure.
• Confidence comes from being intentional and finding personal style.
• Subjective experience is more important than objective perception.
• Process is important for personal growth and development.
• Matthew McConaughey's experience in Australia helped shape who he is today.
• It's better to want something than to need it for success.
• Don't worry about others' opinions and focus on the process.

Matthew McConaughey Shares his Trick for Getting What You Want - YouTube

Matthew McConaughey's Origin Story

• Matthew had been threatening to write a book for 15 years.
• He hired a ghostwriter, but the writer got pulled from the job, which was a gift in disguise.
• Matthew decided to write the book himself and found seven stacks of diaries and journals to draw from.
• The book ended up being a collection of stories, people, places, prescriptions, poems, prayers, and bumper stickers.
• The central thing that came out of those was the title of the book, Greenlights.

The Importance of Knowing Yourself

• Matthew believes that there is no better subject to study than ourselves.
• Knowing ourselves is the one character that we can't get away from.
• Matthew has enjoyed and not enjoyed investigating himself through his life.
• He has learned to find his personal style by process of elimination.
• Style is finding those things that are truly who we are and who we are not.

The Gore Vidal Quote

• The Gore Vidal quote that impacted Matthew the most is "Style is knowing who you are, what you have to say, and not giving a damn."
• Matthew believes that style is hard to achieve, but it's about finding those things that feed us and are classic.
• He has learned to get rid of things that are not him or are just a fad.
• Matthew would rather be a good man than a nice guy.
• He believes that style is also about being true to oneself and not trying to be everything to everybody.

Matthew McConaughey Shares his Trick for Getting What You Want - YouTube

The Importance of Finding Your Own Path

• Matthew believes that everyone has their own path to follow.
• He thinks that it's important to find what feeds us and what we're passionate about.
• Matthew believes that we should not be afraid to take risks and fail.
• He thinks that we should embrace failure and learn from it.
• Matthew believes that we should not be afraid to be ourselves and follow our own path.

Knowing Yourself and Finding Your Frequency

• Find your frequency on something and go forward without asking permission.
• The world will acquiesce and give you a green light if you mean it and go for it.
• Matthew McConaughey shares stories from his book about not asking permission, such as stealing lumber to build a treehouse.
• Breaking into Hollywood is a psychological break-in, and it's better to want it than to need it.
• Confidence comes from being intentional and finding your own personal style.

Breaking into Hollywood

• Matthew McConaughey moved to Hollywood with $2,000 and slept on a producer's couch.
• The producer told him to get the hell out of Hollywood and go do something with his friends.
• Matthew McConaughey and his friends went on a motorcycle trip through Europe for six weeks.
• When he returned, he had forgotten about needing an agent or a job in Hollywood.
• He was able to go into a meeting with an agent and be himself, which led to auditions and getting roles.

The Importance of Not Needing It

• If something is number one on your list and you need it, you often don't get it.
• People want somebody who had their [ __ ] together before they came to them.
• Matthew McConaughey's motorcycle trip got the need for a job or an agent in Hollywood out of his mind.
• He was able to relax and be involved in a meeting with an agent, which led to getting auditions and roles.
• It's better to want it than to need it, and confidence comes from not needing it.

Developing Self-Awareness and Confidence

• Actors are good at conveying emotion and have a high level of self-awareness.
• Matthew McConaughey has always been intentional and found his own personal style.
• Confidence comes from being intentional and finding your own personal style.
• Preparation is important for developing self-awareness and confidence.
• Walking in with a swagger and captivating people comes from being intentional and confident.

Importance of Subjectivity

• Don't worry about how you are being received.
• Best work is done when your head is down in the process.
• Subjective experience is more important than the objective one.
• Don't care about what others think about your work.
• Don't give a damn about the result.

Being Less Reliant on Others' Opinions

• Today, people are becoming too objective and aware of how they are perceived.
• Our attitude and how we feel about ourselves is more reliant on what others think about us than ever before.
• Leaning towards the subjective is important.
• Do what's true to you and don't care about what others think.
• It's okay to pop out and read reviews or watch performances on playback, but don't think about the result or in the third person too early.

The Importance of Process

• Matthew McConaughey has a process to what he does.
• Walkabouts and driving around helped him figure out who he is.
• Creating space to figure out who you are is important.
• Intention behind the walkabouts was to find himself.
• Process is important, and everything shouldn't come easily.

Matthew McConaughey's Experience in Australia

• Matthew McConaughey went to Australia to be an exchange student.
• He was told he would live on the outskirts of Sydney, but it was actually a three-hour drive away.
• He lived in a small home in the middle of the country with a population of 305.
• It was not what he expected, but it was a hilarious experience.
• He learned a lot from the experience and it helped shape who he is today.

Matthew McConaughey's Year of Self-Discovery

• Matthew McConaughey had a difficult year where he had to find his identity and go introspective.
• He had no car, no money, no girlfriend, no buddies, no golf clubs, and a curfew.
• He started writing letters to himself and created resistance in his life to overcome daily.
• He ran six miles a day, became celibate for the entire year, and became a vegetarian.
• He needed these little restrictions to give him some form or sense of structure.
• He learned to stick with himself and never pull the parachute and go back home.

Matthew McConaughey's Handshake Deal

• Matthew McConaughey made a handshake deal that meant a lot to him and his father.
• He always had a hunch that there was light on the other end of his difficult year.
• He saw it as a penance and didn't know what the answer was going to be.
• He told himself there was a golden lesson in there and if he stuck to it, the lesson would be even more worthy.
• The answer was incredible and he wouldn't be where he is now without that time.
• It helped him deal with other crises after that which he didn't even give credit to because they were nothing compared to what he had gone through.

Matthew McConaughey's Writing in Earnest

• Matthew McConaughey began writing in earnest after his difficult year.
• He came to know himself because he had to rely only on himself for the decisions and what reality was and wasn't.
• He got a great identity and it helped him find his balance.
• He took walkabouts to figure out how to get along with himself.
• Those trips away on his own were always about figuring out how to get along with himself.
• He came out the other side shaking hands with himself and saying, "It's you and you. You're the only person I can't get rid of, so let's figure out how to get along here."

Matthew McConaughey's Trick for Getting What You Want

• Matthew McConaughey's trick for getting what you want involves knowing yourself and finding your own personal style.
• He says to find what you love and do it every day.
• He says to be who you are and not who you think others want you to be.
• He says to have a hero to look up to and strive to be like.
• He says to never be satisfied and always be pushing yourself to be better.
• He says to have a mantra or a code to live by.

Forgiving and Moving On

• The first 10 days of solo trips can be difficult.
• During this time, Matthew McConaughey figures out what he will forgive and what he will not put up with anymore.
• After this, he starts enjoying his own company and becomes present again.
• There is power in loneliness and value in extracting something from living life.
• Creating situations from which you can extract value is important.

Being Alone and Finding Value

• Matthew McConaughey believes there is great value in being alone.
• When alone, it is important to sit in discomfort and not pick up the phone or turn to other distractions.
• It is a great time to say no and sit in that discomfort until you come out the other side.
• Stick with it until you get through the uncomfortable times and can spend time with yourself.
• It is okay to re-engage with other relationships in life, but only after finding value in being alone.

Forcing Yourself to Work Something Out

• Matthew McConaughey puts himself in uncomfortable situations to force himself to work something out.
• He goes to places where no one knows him and he doesn't speak the language.
• Being in these situations forces him to have a dialogue with himself and put pen to paper for his own entertainment.
• He recommends breaking a sweat and not just locking yourself in a room.
• Nature can be a big help in these situations.

Having a Destination

• Matthew McConaughey recommends having a destination when going on solo trips.
• During the difficult first 10 days, he knows he has a place he is going and a flight back in 22 days.
• He does not recommend just locking yourself in a room, but taking a journey and breaking a sweat.
• Nature can be a big help in these situations.
• Each day can be a challenge, but it is important to keep moving forward.

The Value of Penance

• Matthew McConaughey goes on a 22-day trip to get away from everything and everyone.
• He spends the first 12 days in solitude, which can be good for the mind and help to get things out.
• After the 12 days, he usually has a purge and wakes up, and the rest of the trip is glorious.
• The next 10 days are when the lessons start to come, and he writes beautiful stuff, truisms, and things that he is learning.
• He becomes very present and starts to see beauty and poetry in life.

Uncovering vs. Creating Identity

• Matthew McConaughey believes that uncovering and creating identity are part and parcel.
• Every human has everything that every other human has in them, but to different extents.
• Uncovering exposes itself, but creating gives the uncovering some form.
• There are things that he has uncovered that he didn't know he had a talent for, but he doesn't pursue them.
• He is intentional about channeling his innate ability and wants to channel it into something that makes him look forward to Mondays.

The Importance of Hard Work

• Matthew McConaughey believes that hard work is necessary to uncover and create identity.
• He thinks that everyone has some version of the abilities that everyone else has in them.
• He wants to cultivate, work at, hustle, read about, learn about, and keep his eyes open every day through the world.
• He has learned to love some things that he didn't like doing.
• The ideal is to find your own innate ability and then educate and work hard to learn more about it.

Watch the video on YouTube:
Matthew McConaughey Shares his Trick for Getting What You Want - YouTube