Matthew McConaughey: Greenlights

episode 126

SHOW TRANSCRIPT

Hello, welcome to the moonshots podcast. It's episode 126. I'm your co-host Mike Parsons. And as always, I'm joined by Mark GreenLights Pearson Freeland. Good morning, Mark. What a great name. That would be green lights. I mean, it'd be perfect Mike for today's show. Wouldn't it? Cause this is episode one to six.

Can you believe, I know so many episodes in everybody loved last week's episode. Didn't I, Adam Grant has proved popular, which is great. And it was all about thinking wasn't it? Yep. Last week brought to us and recommended by Rodrigo's special. Shout out to Rodrigo. Over in Germany. Thank you very much. Not only did you inspire us to cover Adam Grant's latest book, think again, the power of knowing what you don't know, which we can talk about a little bit on today's show as well.

Mike, I think, but in fact, Rodriguez, you inspired this entire series and where we are right now is book number [00:01:00] two, topic. Number two of our thinking better series. And Mike, we have a pretty interesting, you know, individual as well as topic to dig into today. Are we doing deed a little bit out of left field, but I like it.

So hit us with it. Yep. Today we're getting into a man who's probably pretty well known around the world, Mr. Matthew McConaughey and his book that he released at the end of last year in 2020 called Greenlights, which, which might as well dig into a little bit on today's show. It's essentially a. Book filled of, of reflections and memoirs.

It's actually the result of a lot of  many, many decades of journal keeping. And boy, if you are moonshot is have learnt one thing on this show. It is the we're pretty keen on the idea of keeping a job, you know, getting all of those thoughts out on paper. It is. Such a therapeutic  [00:02:00]process. Isn't it?

It's in fact, I think it's the first step to clarity and to thinking better as if you can get your thoughts out and Matthew McConaughey Dame, has he come with a great  contender here for a classic moonshot book? This is the ultimate celebration of journaling and thinking better. I cannot think of. I have a person that we've studied on the show, Matt, that has celebrated journaling this much.

Can you. No, I, as our listeners will know, as our regular listeners will have heard, as you've just said, we, we talk about journaling quite a lot. I think it's fair to say, Hey, it's going to be one of the perhaps tips or hacks that gets brought up a lot from the entrepreneurs and authors that we dig into.

But I don't think anybody's quite gone. As far as McConaughey with green lights. This is a real product of. Journaling. And I think what better way to really dig into the show? Mike then actually hit, [00:03:00] hit with us.  Our first clip, shall I give a little bit of an introduction? Why not? And I would just say here, let's get ready to be surprised about the power of journaling and I think  Matthew McConaughey, Hey boy, get ready for thinking better.

So, all right, max set up this clip. Yep. I love it today. We're Dean to green lights. So let's start off with why Matthew again, we're writing a journal in the first place and how he found his patterns to success. I mean, my diary started off, like, I think most people's diaries. Do you write things down when you're not in a good place or you're lost?

And you know, my early diary entries where the, the, why, what, where, when for me the existential question, what is going on? Does it matter? Who am I? Oh my God, this shit. So my girlfriend broke up with me. I lost it, started off with that. So I've noticed that I started writing down when I was in times of [00:04:00] distress or disillusioned.

And then. I started to say, well, wait a minute, you gotta just like that augmenting a book by hook or by crook, you read it three times a day. I was like, well, we're going to write my diary every day McConaughey. And so when did I, when do most of us, including me not write in our diary when things are going great.

Oh, I've got to figure it out. I'm not going to need to take time to go be introspective and write down my thoughts every day. Everything's green light. It's great. Well, no, I said, hang on a second. We're going to spend our life. A diary of the original use of a diary is to dissect failure or, or disillusion.

I think there's some prudence and let's dissect success. Let's dissect what's going on when things are going well, that's, let's write in this diary when you feel like everything's clear and you feel strong and confident, significant. And you feel like yourself. So I started writing in my diary when things were going well, and then started to map out [00:05:00] certain things about found that what that did is when I would get in a proverbial rut later, I could go back to that diary and look at what was I writing?

What was I doing? When I felt like everything was liquid, the split and I had it, everything handled and I found consistencies. I found it from what I was eating to, who I was hanging out with how much sleep I was getting two beauties in the world that I was noticing and really were affecting me and how I approached it.

People. How has approaching the day, how has approaching conflict, how is approaching and taking in things that work success and I've found consistencies. And then so sometimes it's going back in those diaries. Reading what I was writing when things were going well, would help get me out of a rut later on in life when I wasn't doing so well.

And I remember that this early on in college, it's a reason that  my buddy, as I mentioned early, Rob billionaire said, you should go into storytelling business. Wow, the power of journaling. Did he just make a case for it? And Mark, it is [00:06:00] so true that we tend to only visit the diary when things ain't so good, but he just taught us that, Hey, it's when things aren't going good.

You go back and read the times when you were. In a good place and you can see what you were thinking, what you were doing, and then you can start to recreate those habits and get back on track. Bam. That was strong, bad. You're right. That was a pretty good lesson in how to journal actually. And yeah, and to be honest, I've certainly only  You know, began journaling when times were tough.

I think, you know, stress last or missing home or whatever it might be. And, and it's pretty tempting. Isn't it to only actually, right. When you're feeling a little bit low, like Matthew says your girlfriend broke up with you or whatever, but actually to go back and reread the, the good times. Is a [00:07:00] really kind of good config value.

It's a, it's a call to action, really, to tell you to go out and ride, even when the going is good, because of the value that you'll get in the future is, is so much higher. And I don't know, Mike, it's kind of interesting. I I'm, I've never really gone back and visited my own journal. And I think what Matthew is doing right here is encouraging me to go and do that.

Do you, do you tend to go back to your, your journal a lot? I'm going to admit I'm exactly the same view in that I don't.  So I've already got homework item, number one from this show, and we're only a few minutes into it, but I think it was very powerful.  When I found journaling that it was something that was just a release.

And Ryan holiday, who we studied on the show said it very well. The diary is for the author, not for the reader, meaning it's just all about whatever [00:08:00] you need to write. However you need to write, just write, but where Mark kind of hay takes this, another step is he's like go back and read it and read the good times.

And you will find a pattern to your success because then you're like, Oh, damn, you know, I was exercising more or I was thinking about this more. I was hanging out with these people, whatever it is that drives your performance and you really.  Reaching your potential. It serves as a great, very traceable way to go back and say, you know what, I'm not doing that right now.

I'm going to re I'm going to reinstate that practice. I think this is just  It's almost the completeness of journaling. It's, you know, the, in the moment, it's the purge, but afterwards it's the reflections where you can go back and decode what actually works for you because it all becomes a bit of a pays.

Doesn't it? Yeah. It's, it's the, it's the reflection, isn't it. Sometimes when you're [00:09:00] caught up in the moment, you're less likely to maybe even remember. You know, you might scribble something down and get it out of your system and move on. And then the good times come. So you forget about that bad. And I think what's really difficult is to then remember the, the journey or the struggle that you went through and you came out the other side, you're alive.

You're, you're stronger because of that challenge. And. What I love is the completeness, as you're saying of journaling it down, but then we're going back to revisit and say, okay, well, what was I eating? I think that's a really interesting tactic that McConnell has calling out here. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I, and I think this just presents to all of our listeners and to us, Mark.

We can  look at the success of Matthew McConaughey and we're going to decode some of the challenges he went through and how journaling helped him later in the show. But I think it's safe to [00:10:00] say, I mean, the guy has written a best seller, not bad. Oh, by the way, the guy's got an Academy award. He's got the Oscar.

Oh, that's two for two. I mean, you and I have talked about this before. There are not many people. That can really rise to the top in two totally different  professions and, you know, writing a book about journaling and portraying  you know, a cowboy diagnosed with AIDS on the film. Totally different things, right.

Yet he has  he has succeeded in both. So I think this is so exciting for us to learn how he did it to decode. How might we do it too? So for this show, we're going to really have a bit of a, a cold shower and awaken to how to think about challenge.  And then we're going to look at some of the positive habits that we can all take on board so that we can have.

A [00:11:00] little more green lights in our life. I mean, that sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah. That sounds great. And whether you're in a situation of collaboration with your team, whether you're a leader, whether you're somebody with a family, it kind of feels to me as though there's a lot that we can learn from our Connor, his ability to, to jump between different sectors.

Totally agree. I totally agree. Now he talks a lot about green lights, but he also talks about red ones too. Doesn't it? Yeah. So the, the idea, and I don't want to give it away. I'm going to let McConahey  introduce it himself. Is, is this great visual metaphor for challenges and what we're going to dig into now, Mike is Makani explaining a little bit about what he means.

With challenges, you know, we've talked about stoicism, we've talked about obstacles being the way and celebrating those difficult moments. But before we really get into reflecting back on what we've heard from perhaps other entrepreneurs, innovators, authors, as well as you know, I'm going back to remember Mr.

Joe [00:12:00] Rogan, let's actually hear this wonderful story from O'Connor. Hey, that really brings to life what red lights mean and. What are the benefits of kind of persevering and also seeing the benefit of an obstacle, being an opportunity. And this is a Mike, I can't wait to hear this again. This is Matthew telling us why.

And what happened when he started saying no to romcoms romcom offers came in to my agent for about the next six months, but nothing but rom com offers. And I didn't even. Unless it was a major offer. A w I just said no. And I, they just stopped at my agent's desk, Jim top. No. And then one of them came through that was like a gargantuan offer for it.

And my agent said, it's a pretty damn good script too. And so I said, well, we'll send you that. Let me read it.

And I remember this, the offer was like for $8 million and the script was pretty good. And, but it was still a code of a wrong, [00:13:00] and I remember reading it and going, no, thank you. I remember feeling sort of emboldened and strengthened by saying no. Thank you. Great. Sticking to my guns. No romcoms six months into this drought.

Nope. Not keeping it in now. Don't have fast hit Makani so they come back with a $10 million offer. No, thank you. They come back with a $12.5 million. Now I go. Dot.dot ellipsis alerts. Nah, no, thank you. Now they come back with a $15 million offer. Wow. You know what, let me have another reread of that script.

And I re-read that what. At $15 million, the same script that I've been offered for 8 million, not the $50 million offer script, which was the same exact words is the $8 million offer script. The 50 minute ops group was better. It was funnier. It had possibilities. It had angles. I had [00:14:00] ideas I could make this work, you know, I mean, this could work, but I said  No.

No thank you. Well that got the signal across Hollywood, that McConaughey was taking a serious sabbatical and so don't even send him a wrong. So for the next two, 12, 14 months, Nothing came in nada, zilch, not an offer for anything. I mean, I checked, talked to my agent every couple of weeks. It just be like nothing came in nothing.

So now we're 20 months into this desert. Do any work? I didn't know what I was going to be. And to know if I was going to change my career, if I was going to become a teacher coach or go back to being a lawyer, I didn't know. I didn't think so, but I was writing more. I was talking about forest winners. I had put a forced winter on myself.

And I was I'm pretty content. I wasn't, you know, waking up every morning and going, did an offer come in, did something new, come in. I was past [00:15:00] that. And then all of a sudden 20 months in 2021 months into this desert, I could start getting some offers that are interesting things. William freaking killer, Joe, they Daniel's paper.

Boy, Jeff Nichols wrote mud for me. Steven Soderbergh called magic wine. Richard Linklater. And I go do Bernie together. True. Detective comes around all of a sudden Dallas buyers club. No one still wants to put a bunch of money up for a 1980s period drama about AIDS, but all of a sudden  all the directors were no directors would do Dallas buyers club with me.

They wanted, they wanted the script. They loved the script. They didn't want to do it. The mechanic, all of a sudden we find John Mark fellow. Who won? Who says, no, I I'd like to do with McConaughey. So what happened was that 22 launch or whatever at that drought at desert, I UN branded. I didn't rebrand. It unbranded me being away.

Me being in Texas, [00:16:00] not being on a beach, getting pictures of me, shirtless on a beach, not being in romcoms. I was out of the world's view. I was out of the industry's view. I was not in your living room. I was not in your theater. I was not in any of that. The places that the world would become expectant to see me and how to see me, where was I?

I was gone. Where is McConnell? Hey, well, you're gone long enough. All of a sudden I became a new, good idea, and I just start hammering them. The family came with me everywhere. I went and just started laying down work that really, really turned what  Story Mark. I think that must be one of the best stories we've heard.

Any moonshot legend share on this show. I mean, that one is just seriously Epic. It's so Epic that journey that he went through. And remember, this is going back to when he was in the prime [00:17:00] time of his career, you know, probably late twenties.  Maybe even    earlier than that, and he was on our screens in so many films, but that typecasting that he fell in, so it was stopping him going out and achieving what he, what he really wanted.

Wasn't it. So really that, that Epic story we're just heard is the benefit of patients, the benefit of reflecting on what matters to you, and then having the perseverance to go out and stick to your guns and try to make it happen. Yeah, building on that. I would say he had the strength to say no. And we see that as a pattern to a lot of successful people that it's not only the ability to choose the right things, but it's also their ability to say.

No, thanks that doesn't, I'm not on that mission. And I, I will then go a level deeper. I think he had such a strong understanding of his purpose and who he wanted to be as an actor. [00:18:00] And I will then go another level and say he achieved that through journaling without a doubt, the clarity. Did you hear that deal?

What, where did it, what did it start at and where did it finish the numbers? Yeah, I think it started at $8 million. And then it ended after that, that interchange of his game back and forth saying no, essentially playing hardball. I think it ended up at fifth Dean. Right. So I just want everybody listening right now.

Somebody had a one-time project that wouldn't net him sufficient money for him, his family, his children, his children, children, to all live well. And he said, no, he said, no, Mike, this is seriously stamina and strength that most of us, I mean, Could you imagine, just imagine someone is offering you that [00:19:00] it's just mind blowing, isn't it?

And he's like, nah. And then he was unemployed as an actor for just under two years as a result of this. But I would argue that it was through his daily practice of gym, that his gave him the fortitude to stay on track. Just like Elon Musk, who wrote the final check to empty his bank accounts to keep a space X and solar city alive.

Like that courage. That that's when you know what you're about. And I would argue that journaling is one of the single best tools to know what you're about, who you are, throw in, you know, re green lights  from McConnell. Hey, maybe take a dash of, start with why and Simon Sinek. No, what you're about. So did you have the power to do the things that are right, [00:20:00] but also the audit you to just say no, I mean was seriously one of the greatest lessons.

I think I've learned on the show. Mark. It's awesome. It is the perfect review of journaling. And I love, I just want to go back to something you've said, said, because that really stuck with me. It gave him the fortitude to not only start saying no, but to then. Live with the decision, the fact that he turned it down and then he went into the wilderness, you know, the Valley of darkness for a couple of years, he probably questioned whether he'd made the right decision, but having the ability to refer back to his decisions, what mindset he was in, why he said, no, I know that is, is huge because sometimes when.

You know, we're making decisions in our lives. We'll probably question a few of them and think, huh, maybe I reacted too strong or maybe I didn't [00:21:00] react strong enough. And it's only possible because we don't have a film crew running around. I mean, similar to how Joe Rogan said, you know, exist as though you've got a film crew, the journaling is the record.

Isn't it? It's the record of what you felt like, maybe what you've done and what I. Interesting idea to sit with something for maybe two years when you've turned down $15 million and then say, okay, well, where was I 24 months ago? Why did I do this again? It's just a really rich, really rich story that it is.

It is another thing that came up a lot in the timeless classic series was this idea of difference between the, the journey and the destination. And what we've got now is more goodness from Mr. McConaughey. We're going to listen to him, talking about  understanding the difference between, you know, the destination and the journey.

[00:22:00] And there's a lot of good stuff inside of there. So let's get into none other than Mr. McConahey, as we study his book. GreenLights and let him tell us about the process. I'm going to talk to you about some things I've learned in my journey. Most from experience, some of them I 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 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 better place than you found it. Continue to [00:23:00] 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 yourself, 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. Take that daily tally. Tend to our garden, keep the things that are important to us in good shape. It is just as important where we are not as it is, where we are. Look, the first step that leads to our identity 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 [00:24:00] know who I am not. When you do this, when you do put them down, when you put, go in there. And 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 who's, the where's the watch and the winds that were keeping you from your identity. Trust me too many options. I promise you that too many options will make a tyrant of us. All right. So get rid of the excess, the wasted time. Decrease your options. If you do this, you will have accidentally almost innocent put in front of you.

What is important to you? My process of elimination, knowing who we are is hard. It's hard to give yourself a break, eliminate who you are not first. And you're going to find yourself where you need to be [00:25:00] 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. I don't always do our best 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 and give thanks for those things.

And when we do that, guess what happens? We get better at  discerning choose it because you want it, do it because you want to, you're gonna make mistakes. You've got to own them and you gotta make amends. And then you've got to move on. Guilt and regret kills many a man for their time. So turn the page, get off the ride.

You are the author of the book [00:26:00] of your life. And there's a lot in that clip. That's a nice summation of a number of  you know, speeches that he's done because Mike w what we didn't mention  is that he's also a  I believe he's a professor. Now. Yeah, he studied to be a lawyer, but, but I go back to that clip.

What he just talked about is learning to be better every day. Being the best version of yourself by making better choices every day, it was almost like he was talking about our show. I mean, that's exactly what we're trying to do together here. Aren't we? You, me and all of our listeners, we're all just trying to be a little bit better every day.

And at the root of this, the foundational practice of this is the journal. It's the only way to be able to reflect back, to know what success means to [00:27:00] you, right? Because as he's calling out, it can change. What matters to me right now might be different to what matters to me in six months, time, a year, 20 years.

But you can only have that action of reflection when you've created. The the format or the capability to then refer back to it, right? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, I think it's, I mean, if you, if it becomes the record, then you can enjoy the process of just 1% better every day. And the beauty of the process is that you do it for long enough and all of a sudden you go.

Damn actually made some real progress. Yeah. And then in its own way, that'll give you the confidence, the courage, the reassurance that you've made, the right decision, you know, so by, by doing it now, You will pay dividends in the future and you will be able to go back and study those habits. You're right.

The [00:28:00] 1% better. It's it's the perfect demonstration of that. Isn't it. By the act of journaling, I can refer back. I can see how I can get better and I can therefore, maybe. Be that a little bit happier. Totally, totally. I mean, and  boy, he can, he can get on and do his sermon, Connie. I mean, that was a pretty  gusty  speech he was giving there.

I mean, he was like, like giving a sermon on a Sunday. He was like per region there who was really getting into it. And I was too, I thought it was fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's a lot of fun to hear McConaughey speak. I mean, he is, I think, as he caught out in that first clip, we heard  he's, he's a story, man.

He tells a good story and that's why I think he's so unique in the individuals that we've, that we've dug into previously, Mike, because of his capabilities at, you know, performing on screen, as well as this additional [00:29:00] element that he's released at the end of last year, green lights, it is showing us. That everybody's a little bit deeper.

We've all gone. Something that can, can create a price or an environment for us to learn from in the world. And it's really interesting how many surprises you and I have when we think about the concept of moonshots, who we can learn out loud from. I mean, we just, the list is in exhaustive. Oh, you should see the future episodes list on, on the site.

Mark is like Epic.  And for any of our listeners, if you want to see what's coming up, what people have recommended to us, but you, our listeners have suggested head over to moonshots.io. And while we talk about that, there's another thing. That's just part of the process of us getting better at moonshots.

And that is we are going to launch the moonshots at Mark, but we need a little bit of encouragement. Don't we, if we're going to do that, we [00:30:00] do, we do let listeners, it is not up to myself and Mike to decide what is valuable for you. We want to hear from you, you tell not only who you'd like us to cover, and as Mike said, We invite you to pop over to www.men shots.io, to check out our future shows.

We listen to every single recommendation that you guys give us. And on the same line of thinking, we want to hear from you with regards to creating a moonshots application. This will be your playbook that you can pop in your pocket  that all  inspires or maybe guides, or at least helps some of your mindsets and those habits that we talk about on the show regarding, you know, proving yourself decision-making as well as perhaps even leadership.

We want to know from you, whether this is worth us building. So, so I think our call to action Mark is. We need you to sign up for the beta and we want to thank a whole bunch of people have done it. This Fernanda, [00:31:00] Robin Haymitch class, Sarah Bettina, Thomas, Sharon, Michael, Samantha, Jason Berat. Angie Dimitri.

Thank you.  We really, we really want to make sure we're building something that is going to. Be of value. It's going to have some cool stuff. It will be more interactive in how you can listen to the show. You can vote from the app for future shows, and there's going to be a whole training section, which is kind of built around the idea of improving yourself, your decisions.

And your leadership too. So if you want to the signal, the bat signal, Mark, where do they send out the signal that they, they want to do this pop over to the homepage, www moonshots.io, click on the top of banner, the moonshots app, sign up for our free beater and we'll keep a record and we'll give you a shout out and we'll get that a little bit closer to going out and creating the moonshots app.

Well, now we've got that. And we're sort of getting into this idea [00:32:00] of positive habits, listening to our show rating and reviewing our show if you can  and sharing it with friends, making suggestions. Well, Mr. McConaughey, the author of green lights, he has a lot to say about positive habits. Doesn't he, man.

Yeah, he does. And, and as you were briefly mentioning in the backend of the last clip, Mike, this idea of 1% better  we've really dug into this on the show before with our habits series, but these positive habits though, McConaughey is really reinforcing, I think are just as valuable. And what's really nice.

There's a couple of personal stories of, of his own approach. As we've heard previously, where he started saying no to romcoms, there's some more stories that he's going to give us, which I think are really valuable when we think about habits. And this first one, Mike is a little bit of a reflection back to when he was growing up.

And the idea of words being banned in the house. So this next clip we're going to hear McConaughey is telling us why you [00:33:00] should never say no, but the real words that we got, like either punished for a war forbidden or hate and can't. And I remember my dad, I remember one Saturday morning when, when I was in bed.

12 my Saturday morning chores, where do you know, mow the lawn weed, shine his shoes and sweep the borders and get the cobwebs out of the corners. Well, I'd get up very early on a Saturday morning to do that. So I could have my Saturday afternoon to play. And I went out to try and start up, push a lawnmower and it wouldn't start Paul again, wouldn't start pull again.

We'll just start check the gas yet. It's got gas. What the heck's going on? Damn it won't start. And I remember going into my dad and sad and I go dad, the   I can't get the lot more started and he. Kind of slowly turned his head to me and I saw his molars mate, you kind of start the greatest teeth and he goes, you, what?

And I knew and not right then to not say the word again. And I said, aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. [00:34:00] And he got up and I didn't finish my sentence. He slowly walked with me out of his bedroom, through the kitchen, through the garage, around the back to the shed where this lawnmower was that  I was not getting started.

Hey, without saying a word, he nailed down, looked at it, checked the gas better. Anyway, he found the little tube where the gas was not transferring and it had been disconnected. So they, so he reconnected that pulled a few times and it started. And they're over a run new now running push lawnmower. He looked at me, he put his hands on my shoulders for the first time since I said, I can't get it started.

He put his hands on. My shoulders, looked at me and very sternly said, he goes, you see seven, you were just having trouble. Problem is Lamar and boom. You know, and I remember from that day, that lesson, it was like, Oh, even if you're unable to do something on your own. You can still go seek help or get assistance.

So you're still only having trouble, even [00:35:00] if you're on your own cannot do. So that was a, in those words still to this day, if I let him slip, I kind of have to look over my shoulder like, Oh, going to get me, Mark. What do you think?  The benefit of this idea? Like never say never, never say this word hate.

What does that really do for us? Where is he really? What is he really teaching us here? I think he's teaching us to have patience. I think it's patience. I think resilience, I know McConaughey calls out the  going to find that support from other people. And every challenge can be surmounted. If you, if you find, you know, maybe a professional and so on, but really for me, that clip speaks to don't give up.

Don't find that you can't turn on the low mower and say, ah, life is against me. This is the end of this is the end of life I give up. Instead, what he's saying is, okay, well, have [00:36:00] that a little bit more perseverance resilience to keep on pushing, find that solution, maybe work that harder a bit harder, but just stick with it.

But you know, he's almost going a little Carol Dweck, isn't it? Yeah. It's the growth mindset. What does it fall into that fixed mindset? Yeah. Yeah. What does that teach you? Like what would you do different when you hear McConaughey saying this? For me, the triggers, you know  much like Carol, we were talking about noticing.

When your mind or your behavior is falling into a traditional or fixed behavior or mindset. So in that case, let's go back to the lawn mower. If it doesn't start, what would a lot of us do? We'd say, ah, I need to buy a new lawn mower, or we'd say, I'm not going to learn the monitor. I'm not going to mow the lawn today after all, you know, you'd kind of find an excuse and close down on it, [00:37:00] but instead.

If you can notice are okay, here's an opportunity that I need to go out and fix this machine. Isn't starting, or I've got a problem at work or in home instead of falling into the natural passing of saying, Nope, that doesn't work and it never will. Going out and trying to find that solution noticing that's your trigger, noticing that that's your standard behavior.

And instead choosing to garden, continue finding the solution. That's for me, the big lesson from never say never. You know, and it's how we perceive the limitations of ourself and what we saw, you know, for example, with Michael Jordan, when we studied him, he made a decision, I will be the best basketball player on the planet.

And he never said [00:38:00] never. Right? So there's some really interesting patterns here that, you know, this idea of journaling. Very much a stoic. So check out our Ryan holiday series. If you're interested in that, enjoying the process and being more present. Well, that's kind of power of now and echo toe and this idea of mindset.

This is total Carol Dweck, who we just did recently in the timeless classic series.  And. What's underpinning all of this, which is beautiful, which is so typically moonshots is the journal, the ultimate weapon in being the best version of yourself. But you don't get there without hard work. You don't get there with some toil.

So you need to be able to, you know, put in the time, put in the efforts and sometimes. You got to take a little bit of responsibility. You got to put in the [00:39:00] work to enjoy freedom. So let's have a listen to Matthew McConaughey talking about earning your way to success. There's a responsibility to freedom and that there is freedom and responsibility, you know, and that earn your way there.

We remember the stuff we earn, the stuff we experienced more than what the teacher tells us or what someone gives us for free. We just do, we broke the proverbial, sweat on it, whether it was mental or physical, whatever, we, we built it. And we S we understand, we felt how we got it, how we achieved it, how we got what we wanted those stick with us, whether we forget them intellectually, they were written in our lineage and they build resilience and they, and they build.

A healthy, true optimism. Going forward to know that, Oh no, I've, I've, I've worked for something before and achieved it. Delayed gratification. Oh, are choices I can make today for myself that will pay me back later in life. So there are choices we make. If [00:40:00] you're going to say right now, I'm going to lie, cheat and steal to get what I want.

And I got it. I got an immediate green light for me. That's a battery powered green light. That's not a solar powered green light. Why? Because now everywhere I go, I got to look over my shoulder to see if someone's there, that I lied, cheat and stole from. And, and I'm doing that. I'm stealing whose time? My time now I'm not freedom.

I'm not free. I don't have the freedom. I didn't create freedom in my future because I chose to be in it, make an irresponsible act that I left crumbs. And now I've got reasons to look over my shoulder and the more things we do to create, and our, in our future that we got to look over our shoulder, the more of our most precious thing we have in our lives time that we're stealing from ourselves.

So it's not puritanical. It's just like it's actually self serve. It's a very selfish choice.  And, and I'm a fan of the word selfish. I've read, it, helped redefine it.  But I believe that there are selfish [00:41:00] choices. We can make that the most selfless, that there are selfless choices that we can make. I make that are the most selfish choices.

Those two are not a contradiction. And we see them that way. Responsibility is, is appreciation of a past. It's building of a lineage. It's investing in ourselves. It's investing in something we started to build yesterday that we want to take into tomorrow. There's a response that gives us freedom. I think what I'm getting from that clip is the concept of responsibility being something that only I have control over and I'm going to get out of my life or current situation, whatever I've put in.

If it's the Lumo, not starting. If I work hard at it, I'll get it started. If it's.  Career I'll get out of it. What I've put in through the collaborations that I've done, the products that I've made. And I quite like this [00:42:00] comparison that he's, he's drawing for us here, selfish and selfless being connected choices.

And I think again, not to bang on the drum  repeatedly, but I think you only really get  insights into both of those. When you start journaling, what are those selfish acts? What are those selfless acts and how will they together? How are they  comparative? I, I kind of feel like Matthew's, again, reiterating here through the investment in your, your behavior.

Now maybe you can reflect back on it. You can see what you've done, right? What you've done wrong. And therefore you can go out and have that freedom that he mentions in that clip because you've created enough of a pathway to identify it in the future. What, what did, what did you get from that clip Mike?

 It, it reminds me a lot of  Jocko, Willink, Joe Rogan, who were all saying, like embrace the discomfort.  And, you know, Joe Rogan goes to S [00:43:00] to a long, a lot of effort to say things feel better when you've put in the work you've earned it.  And so the reflection that I have is that next one I'm making is I think journaling makes you aware of your progress.

And when you don't feel like when you feel like you're hitting a lot of red lights, it's a place where you can go to the gym and turn the red lights into green lights so that you can persevere.  That to me is the connection I'm making. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It definitely does.

Definitely does. I mean, you know, for me, I think if I didn't journal. I wouldn't be aware of myself as much. I wouldn't be aware of my journey as much. And I would fail to see, you know, signposts  opportunities or potentially, you know, red lights coming up that I can [00:44:00] navigate. I feel like it's just an essential way for clarity of the mind.

And  I think that  with the intensity in which modern day work  Has I think it's like it builds winds us up. And I think journaling is how we unwind, how we can put our minds to rest, how we can be more present in the work, how we can go and do deep work when we've really done that. Otherwise. I think without that, that journal, I think we, we kind of flounder about, because we're just so overwrought with data and decisions and, you know, it's, it's really a wonderful thing.

The general, I think I'm cheerleader number one here, but Mark, before we wrap up the show, we do have one last and final clip from Mr. McConaughey himself. Do you want to set this up for us as we kind of bring. This story to completion around Matthew McConaughey and GreenLights. Yeah, [00:45:00] well, he's reading, he's reflected a few times on obstacles and challenges.

He's reflected on having the ability to look back and see the decisions that you've made. So this final clip is Matthew McConaughey talking again about  green lights, as well as red lights and how reflecting and reflection back on your decisions are only possible. When you look in the rear view mirror.

Green lights. I mean, ultimately I believe that in the rear view mirror of our life, every red and yellow light will turn green and that may not even be in this life. Tim, I think a lot of people that happens for people in this life tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, 10 years from now on our deathbed.

But I, if it doesn't happen, then I think it can happen in the next life for our kids or for our kids, kids, our grandkids. It's a lesson, maybe realize. Three five, 10 generations from now. It may become a green light for some hardship that we go through in [00:46:00] this life. Now. Well looking back, I mean, this has to be the single biggest gift that I think he's given us.

What's new for us. All of us moonshot is every single one of us who are trying to be the best version of ourselves, whether you're one of our listeners in Thailand, the UAE, Austria, the Netherlands. Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Austria, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Japan doesn't matter where you are. I think every single one of us know that we've got to put in the work and do the journaling, but I think what you've just beautifully presented to us, Mark is this clip of Matthew McConaughey saying, go back to it.

Because in the journal is not only the moment  and the release that it gives you, but it's the capacity to see what actually does work for you. So go back and then find those positive habits and make sure you reinstate them, or you have [00:47:00] the discipline to keep them so that you can truly reach. Your full potential.

I mean, what a great message from somebody who was the King of rom-coms at Wednesday. Well, yeah, what he's calling out in that final clip is the idea of legacy and, you know, the legacy that you're going to leave behind for your partner, children, grandchildren, so on and so forth. And again, you're only going to.

Be able to consider your legacy in enough detail to make it matter. When you do that, a little bit of journaling and that reflection, you know, nobody's going to do it apart from you. You need to take the ownership to go out and choose what's right. For me, what success means to me and ultimately what you want to leave behind as a legacy.

And I think that's a wonderful little analogy there. When I look back that rear view mirror. Am I going to look back and say, yep. You know what? All of those red lights they did turn green. All those obstacles made me who I am today. [00:48:00] Or am I going to look back and say, huh, I could've, I could've done that bit better.

I think what he's really calling out here is start with a solid foundation informed by reflection and journaling and compartmentalization that comes with. Journaling and the act of, of reflecting on your day. And I mean, look, he's a man. Who's, who's still pretty famous. He went into the wilderness for two years, but he's still on all of our big screens right now.

Isn't he? So he's doing something right? Oh, he most certainly is. And what, what another  perfect reminder Mark, that we can learn so much. From so many different people. I mean, it's, it's kind of breathtaking. It's like staring out into space and every single person is like a star that has a lesson to teach us.

It's.  It's so exciting. I mean, I just think our future episode list just gets longer. Doesn't it? It does. And [00:49:00]  next week, Mike we're Dean, we're continuing our thinking. A better series by going into a, another recommendation and this recommendation, I believe it was from Mr. Terry Bean and the book  by Dan, Dan Millman, the way of the peaceful warrior.

Wow. Not so familiar with the work. Can't wait to study  all of that research.  Can't wait to pull together the clips on that.  And what a fantastic series twisting, turning pivoting around challenging us. Hopefully not only informing us, but inspiring us to Mark.  If you go back. Now, and you look at your reflections upon GreenLights, what's the one, what's the one that's gonna, as you work today, what's the one that's really gonna stick with you, you know?

Cause for reflection. You know what  I'm not going to choose the obvious one, which is, Hey everybody, go [00:50:00] ahead and journal. Because I think the listeners have probably heard us say that a few times. Now I'm going to invite those of us who, who do keep journals to go and revisit. Some of the, some of the entries I've I've for one, who've never  gone back to read any of my previous entries  because it was  a mental decision that I'd made, but actually McConaughey is calling out the opposite.

So that's what I'm going to go and do, Mike, I am totally with you on this one. That was the biggest one for me. I've been journaling for so long. I have almost never. Ever gone to re read it. And you know, the only time I tend to is when I write something that  Sort of is kind of somewhat related to work.

And I was like, Oh, that was some pretty good thing. I'm going to go back and find that and searching through data. And then I'm like stuff and I'll just write the whole thing again, but no, you're absolutely right. Reflecting on it. So you can see not only what wasn't working, but what was working. And that's another part of this great insight [00:51:00] that you to our listeners can get from Matthew McConaughey, Facebook, green lights, or Mark.

Thank you. That was pretty good, but isn't it. Yep. I've really, really enjoyed today's episode because it pulls together a lot of the strands that we've uncovered through other innovators and entrepreneurs, and it just brings it into a really vivid  story led reflection. It does indeed. So thank you to you, Mark a thank you to you, our listeners, the moon shutters.

That's right. Every single one of you are on a, your mission to be the very best version of yourself. And we are so delighted and grateful to be part of that. And today we learned from the man himself, Mr. Matthew McConahey and his book and his work. Green lights and what a standout it was. And it really starts with this idea of being aware, you know, go out into the world and find the patterns to your [00:52:00] success.

Not only reflecting on what doesn't work, but what does work. And if you take your purpose and you stick to it, You journal it, you write it, you two will have the strength to say no. So that frees you to go out into the world and every single day to enjoy the process. And that process starts with having some very positive habits.

Never say never. And make sure that you earn your way to success. Thrive, dwell, enjoy the hard work, because if you do, you'll have the capacity to look in the review, you'll be able to ask yourself, how will I be remembered? You will have the opportunity to create your legacy. And that, as we know here on the moonshot show is the best version of yourself.

So we are delighted to be part. Of that journey with you, our listeners today. So that's it for the moonshots podcast.