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Tim FerrissMatthew McConaughey on Success Playbooks, Philosophy of Greenlights, and More | The Tim Ferriss Show
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CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 15:23
Dad's Pipe Business and Mom's Mink Oil Lawsuit
Matthew McConaughey describes his father peddling pipe and couplings in the Texas oil business and always hoping to "hit a lick." He then tells the story of his mother's oil of mink product, his acne, and the failed lawsuit that ended with a Most Handsome yearbook photo.
- •His father sold pipe and couplings during the oil boom and never went bankrupt
- •A "lick" means a big sale or big account
- •Oil of mink gave him severe acne and led to a dermatologist visit and Accutane
- •The emotional-distress lawsuit collapsed when the defense lawyer produced the yearbook where he was voted Most Handsome
- 15:23 – 18:07
"I Can't" Was Forbidden: The Lawnmower Lesson
Tim asks about his parents' marriages and the household ban on saying "I can't." Matthew recounts the Saturday his father walked him through fixing a lawnmower and reframed it as having trouble rather than being unable.
- •His parents were divorced twice and married three times
- •The forbidden words in the house were "hate" and "can't"
- •His dad fixed a disconnected gas tube on the mower and told him he was just having trouble
- •The lesson was that you can seek help and still be only having trouble
- 18:07 – 26:52
The Greatest Salesman in the World and "Don't Half-Ass It"
Matthew explains how Og Mandino's book found him between his sophomore and junior years of college, when he was doubting his path toward law. It gave him the confidence to call his father about film school, and his father answered "Don't half-ass it."
- •He was not a reader and disliked being told what to read
- •He found the book in a stack of magazines at a friend's bungalow before a psychology exam
- •He decided on film school and called his father that night
- •His father's response was "Don't half-ass it"
- •He read the book's scrolls on schedule for 10 straight months without missing a reading
- 26:52 – 31:46
The 1992 List of Ten Goals
Tim reads Matthew's ten goals from a 9/1/92 diary entry in Greenlights. Matthew places the entry two days after finishing Dazed and Confused and about two weeks after his father died, and explains how Just Keep Livin' came out of that period.
- •He wrote the list in a top bunk at the Delta Tau Delta house
- •It came after Dazed and Confused, the Og Mandino book, and his father's death on August 17th
- •Just Keep Livin' grew out of keeping his father's spirit alive
- •He forgot the list for decades and found it again in his diaries less than a year ago
- 31:46 – 39:11
Egotistical Utilitarian, Taking Risks, and "Less Impressed, More Involved"
Matthew explains the egotistical utilitarian as the place where selfish decisions are also the best for the most people. He then explains why he wanted to take more risks, tying it to early payoffs and to the world flattening to eye level after his father's death.
- •The egotistical utilitarian is where the I meets the we
- •Early risks, such as approaching Don Phillips and improvising in a scene, paid off
- •After his father died he carved "Less impressed, more involved" into a tree
- •Losing reverence for mortal things gave him courage to meet his fears
- 39:11 – 43:24
Keeping a Diary: Dissecting Success as Well as Failure
Tim asks why Matthew started a diary and what it has given him. Matthew says he began writing in hard times but decided to write when things were going well, so he could find consistent patterns to return to during later ruts.
- •Early entries were existential questions written in distress
- •He chose to dissect success, not only failure
- •Rereading good periods revealed consistencies in food, sleep, company and approach
- •Writing down what made him laugh and cry helped him get to know himself and led to character
- 43:24 – 47:52
Why "Greenlights": Red and Yellow Lights Turning Green
Matthew explains the title Greenlights as a metaphor in which hard times and interruptions eventually reveal their green-light value. He gives his father's death as an example and describes ways to find greenlights: persisting, pivoting, surrendering, or denying a crisis.
- •Greenlights is more affirmative than his earlier idea of "forced winters"
- •His father's passing was a red light that revealed greenlights for him
- •Greenlights can come from persisting, pivoting, or raising the white flag
- •Sometimes denying a crisis keeps it from sticking, and he believes every red and yellow light turns green eventually
- 47:52 – 53:22
Dirt Roads and Autobahns
Tim lists eight themes from the book and Matthew chooses to start with dirt roads and autobahns. He tells a film-school story and explains that the road less taken can be a dirt road or an autobahn depending on the person.
- •His film-school classmates dismissed popular movies they hadn't seen
- •His dirt road was the autobahn of the multiplex
- •For an agoraphobic the dirt road is going out; for an extrovert it is introspection
- •The right path changes over time for each person
- 53:22 – 1:00:48
Stoicism, Solitude, and Socratic Dialogue with Yourself
Prompted by Tim's question about stoicism, Matthew discusses choosing resistance and forcing yourself into solitude. He describes his solitary desert trips for writing the book and says that when you talk to yourself you must answer your own questions.
- •He values choosing the harder challenge and the need for resistance
- •He took five solitary trips totaling 52 days to write the book
- •He calls himself McConaughey in his inner dialogue
- •Asking questions without answering them can lead to imbalance
- •Staying with discomfort until an answer comes can bring grace
- 1:00:48 – 1:05:09
The Art of Running Downhill
Matthew describes how his fame exploded after A Time to Kill, with 99 of 100 scripts suddenly open to him, and how he handled that success poorly. The art of running downhill, he says, is to enjoy the good times and not trip yourself, because the uphill is coming anyway.
- •After A Time to Kill, discernment became hard overnight
- •Jerry Harris warned him about the non-deserving complex
- •He created unnecessary obstacles and became belligerent at times
- •Hard times will come, so don't sabotage yourself while things are easy
- 1:05:09 – 1:18:12
Saying No to Rom-Coms and the Desert Years
Tim asks about turning down lucrative roles, and Matthew tells the story of leaving rom-coms. He refused offers up to $15 million, spent about 20 months with no offers, and then received the roles he wanted, including Dallas Buyers Club.
- •He felt his work was less vital than his real life and wanted roles that challenged him
- •His agent said "I don't work for them. I work for you"
- •His wife Camila told him they wouldn't half-ass it
- •He turned down offers rising from $8 million to $15 million
- •He says he "unbranded" and was then offered roles like Killer Joe, Mud, Magic Mike and Dallas Buyers Club
- 1:18:12 – 1:26:56
Getting Through the Drought: Family, Purpose, and Preparation
Asked what kept him steady during the drought, Matthew cites his family's support, a real family crisis that gave him purpose, and time with his son. Tim then asks about misconceptions, and Matthew says people think he just wings it when he is actually a preparer.
- •His mom and brothers thought he was crazy but supported him
- •A family crisis gave him unquestionable purpose and an immortal priority
- •Work came in just as he stopped caring about it
- •He says his work is the pre-game preparation, which lets him look relaxed in the game
- •If he feels he might raise his voice he goes back to find what he failed to handle
- 1:26:56 – 1:31:55
The Billboard: "I Value, Question Mark"
Matthew talks about wanting more return on investment on ourselves and finding a science to being satisfied, then answers Tim's billboard question with "I value?" He ties values to compounding choices and the idea of asking yourself whether you want to do something before you do it.
- •He wants to find themes that support a science of satisfaction
- •Dissecting success as well as failure reveals reliable patterns
- •His billboard would read "I value?" because shared values are a common stepping stone
- •Being relevant raises the question of relevant for what
- •The jeans-pressing story shows asking yourself if you want to before you do
- 1:31:55 – 1:39:30
Closing Message: Make Sense of Humor the Default
Tim shares where to find the book and asks for any final thoughts. Matthew suggests everyone could use some amnesty right now and that sense of humor be the default emotion, laughing at the human condition and not at others' expense.
- •Idea came from a verbal ping-pong with Richard Linklater
- •Humor does not remove the truth or the problem and can reveal it
- •Laugh at our shared human expense, not someone else's
- •Tim encourages listeners to check out Greenlights and promises a round two
