Young and Profiting with Hala Taha - Matthew McConaughey: Greenlights | E101

Episode Date: February 8, 2021

Alright, Alright, Alright!   You all know and love our guest this week. Matthew McConaughey is a Texas native and one of Hollywood’s most sought-after leading men. Matthew first broke out on the scene with the cult classic Dazed and Confused. Since then, he has won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club, appeared in more than 40 feature films that have grossed more than $1 billion, and become a producer, creative director, and philanthropist. Matthew has been in cult-classic movies such as How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Dallas Buyers Club, Dazed and Confused, Interstellar, and more! Aside from being one of our generations most popular actors, he and his wife Camila are the founders of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, and he serves as the Minister of Culture/M.O.C. and a full time professor for the University of Texas. On top of all of these accomplishments, Matthew is now a best-selling author. His first book Greenlights is a #1 New York Times Bestseller and has already received rave reviews.  In this episode, we discuss Matthew’s childhood and how his family instilled confidence in him from a young age, his dedication to journaling throughout his life, and his early film beginnings. We’ll then get into how he landed his breakout film roles, why he took a break from acting to reinvent his image, the meaning behind the title of his new book, Greenlights, and some great life lessons he has to share.     Sponsored by Podcast Republic: https://www.podcastrepublic.net/podcast/1368888880   Clubhouse Master Negotiation on Feb 2nd Event with John Lee Dumas, David Meltzer, Heather Monahan and more!:  https://www.joinclubhouse.com/event/9mWKeJnm   Social Media:   Follow YAP on IG: www.instagram.com/youngandprofiting Reach out to Hala directly at [e-mail] Follow Hala on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Follow Hala on Instagram: www.instagram.com/yapwithhala Follow Hala on ClubHouse: @halataha Check out our website to meet the team, view show notes and transcripts: www.youngandprofiting.com   Timestamps:   02:41 - Why Matthew Wrote a Book Instead of Making a Movie 04:35 - Matthew’s Process of Writing the Book and Journaling 09:18 - What Does “Green Lights” Mean? 12:53 - Why ‘Unbelievable’ is a Horrible Word to Matthew 15:13 - Being “Little Mr. Texas” 17:40 - Origin of Matthew’s Confidence From Childhood 22:40 - Turning a ‘Red Light’ into a ‘Green Light’ 29:04 - Matthew’s Decision to Go to a Cheaper College 32:46 - Why Matthew Went to Film School 37:45 - How He Got His Part in ‘Dazed and Confused’  45:56 - Experience with Romantic Comedy Movies 52:55 - How Matthew Deals with Celebrity Status 59:16 - The Just Keep Livin Foundation 1:01:32 - Matthew’s Secret to Profiting in Life   Mentioned in the Episode:   Matthew’s Book, Greenlights: https://greenlights.com/ Matthew’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officiallymcconaughey/ Just Keep Livin Foundation: https://www.jklivinfoundation.org/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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stores. Taxes and other fee still apply. You're listening to YAP, Young and Profiting Podcast, a place where you can listen, learn, and profit. Welcome to the show. I'm your host, Halla Taha, and on Young and Profiting Podcast, we investigate a new topic each week and interview some of the brightest minds in the world. My goal is to turn their wisdom into actionable advice that you can use in your everyday life, no matter your age, profession or industry.

There's no fluff on this podcast, and that's on purpose. I'm here to uncover value from my guests by doing the proper research and asking the right questions. If you're new to the show, we've chatted with the likes of XFBI agents, real estate moguls, self-made billionaires, CEOs, and best-selling authors. Our subject matter ranges from enhanced and productivity, had to gain influence, the art of entrepreneurship, and more. If you're smart and like to continually improve yourself, hit the subscribe button, because you'll love it here at Young & Profiting Podcast. Alright, alright, alright!

You all know and love our guests this week. Matthew McConehey is a Texas native and one of Hollywood's most sought-after leading men. He first broke out on the scene with a cult classic, Dazed and Confused. Since then, he's won an Academy Award for his work in Dallas Buyers Club. It appeared in more than 40 feature films that have grossed over $1 billion,

and has become a producer, creative director, and philanthropist. Aside from being one of our generation's most popular actors, he and his wife, Camilla, are the founders of the Just Keep Living Foundation, and he serves as a minister of culture and a full-time professor at the University of Texas. On top of all of these accomplishments, Matthew is now a best-selling author. His first book, Greenlights, is number one, New York Times Best Seller. In this episode, we discussed Matthew's childhood and how his family

instilled confidence in him from a young age, will also discuss his dedication to journaling throughout his life and his early film beginnings. We'll then get into how he landed his breakout film roles, while he took a break from acting to reinvent his image, the meaning behind the title of his new book Green Lights, and some of the great life lessons he has to share. Hey Matthew, welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast. Hello, Hala, hello, are you young profiteers out there? Well, Matthew McConaughey, you are a guest that really needs no introduction. You are one of the biggest actors of our generation.

You've been in over 40 feature films. And you're coming on our show today to talk about a new book called Greenlights. And so I was curious to try to get insight into with all your acting background, with your film production background, what made you think about writing a book? Why didn't you just shoot a movie? Yeah, good question.

Shooting a movie? Yeah, good question. Shoot a movie. All right, I'm doing, I'm acting in someone else's script directed by someone else, lensed in a camera by someone else and edited by someone else before it gets on screen for the viewer to watch it. That's four filters separate from my first original raw expression. I was like, look, we'll be only one filter. It's the written word. It's a much more direct line of my art or means of communication to you because I'm directing it. I'm lensing it. I'm editing it. It's my script I'm lensing it. I'm editing it. It's my script. And I want it to... I've always loved words, you know? I mean, I have a career where I perform. It's not necessarily about the words. The words only

10% of what an actor actually does. I wanted to say, well, can I get across what I want to be just the word? Can it be written in a way that you can hopefully see me perform it or you listen to the audible and that helps. But it can have my voice without actually having, audibly, my voice and my performance. And that was a challenge I wanted to tackle. And I was hoping that I had stories and some wisdom I've learned along the way that I could share that people could apply to their own lives as well. So let's talk about the process of actually writing this book, because from my understanding you actually went on a trek by yourself in the desert to kind of write this book. You also journaled a lot growing up all throughout your life.

So tell us about the process and also journaling and your process in writing the book with that. Sure. So I've been keeping journals since I was 14, so 37 years now. And just always have. And many did him for myself trying to write like anyone at 14 years old, probably mostly confused,

trying to figure out what's going on. Why do I have pimples on my face? Why did, why did Gretchen break up with me? Buh, buh, buh, things like that? And then I also continued to journal when maybe I felt very certain about things, when I was on my frequency, when I was succeeding, when I had successful relationships,

when all of a sudden I began to have successful working relationships, personal relations, when I was happy in life, I continued to journal then. And I bring that up because that's what most of us, even if you do journal, that's when most of us stop journaling. Because when things are going well, we go, oh, I don't need to write this down. This is how it's supposed to be.

I'll always remember this. No. Write down, dissect your success as much or more than you dissect your failures or when you're confused and lost because we will forget. And I know for me, my journals have been a great tool to go back and look at. At times, in my life, say, if I'm off, if I'm in a rut, again, I can go, I've gone back and looked at my journals and said, well, what were you doing, Matthew? What habits back when you were rolling,

when your relationships were good, when you were, you felt like you were in line and on time. And I found habits that I followed that led to gave us sort of a science to what satisfaction I had that then presently helped me recalibrate and go, well, I need to start doing that again. So, I can get back in line and they've helped me get back on track. The writing of the book was, I took all of those journals away to the desert for, there's

a total of 52 days in solitary, spread out over five different trips. And I wanted to go away alone because I didn't want to have the luxury of going, oh, well, let me check my messages or the luxury of going, hey, let me also and so. I wanted to go to a place where there's no internet connection where I had nobody to interrupt me, or even if I got bored, I had nowhere to run. And all in place I could run to was to look back at my journals and who I've been over the last 50 years. And I wanted to be stuck with that person and look at that person in the eye.

And that was the process right in the book. Yeah, it's so cool that you journaled since such a young age. I think a lot of us have interesting stories growing up and we just forget them. And the fact that you had them saved and you were able to kind of like pull them out and then reflect on them later on and write this book. I just think it's so amazing and something that everyone can take away from this in terms of like the importance of journaling.

Yeah, well, keep the stories alive. You can think when something awesome happens, or you across the truth, or something's really entertaining, or you're individually really laughing something, you think it's really special. Again, we always think, oh, I'll always remember that. But what happens over time is it gets fuzzy. So one, I say yes, journal.

But two, if you have something, the verbal telling of the story, keep telling the story over and over, keep sharing the story. That also keeps it alive. But also write it down because the first way you remember it will be different than you tell it 10 years later. Stories kind of take, they become different things.

You come over time, you give them different facts. So it's good to be able to go back and go, how did I originally feel about that? What originally turned me on about that circumstance in my life? And again, just, you know, I say in the book, I write things down so I can forget them, not to remember. What I mean by that is if something turns me on in life, and if I write it down, I know that I can now

don't have to keep thinking, oh, don't forget that, don't forget that, don't forget that. Because I've written it down, that means I can forget it because I go, no, I wrote that down. It's there when I want to go back to it. So I don't have to continue to go through life going, don't forget that thing. Don't forget. Make sure you don't forget that.

I write it down so I can forget it because I know I have a written down. Yeah, that's something that David Allen taught me. He's the author of GTD Getting Things Done. And basically, you have open loops in your brain. And until you write them down, you don't actually close that loop. So really a good point. So let's talk about the title of your book.

It's called Green Lights. And I just want to get my listeners some context in terms of what does a green light mean? What's the difference between a green light or red light and is there something called a yellow light? Tell us all about that. Yeah, green lights mean go. They affirm our way.

They say, carry on please, more. Yes, freedom out of boy, out of girl, keep on going. We like them because they keep us in our flow. They don't interrupt us. Yellow light slows us down. We don't really like it. We don't want it to have it. Why am I getting interrupted right now? You know what I mean? Get out of my way. Red light makes us stop. Those are crises or times of retrospection or introspection in our life. We need those. We may not want them, but we need them if we're going to evolve as individuals and as humans.

The red and yellow lights I've found eventually turned green in the rearview mirror of life, meaning hardships we've had, or times where we've had to be introspective and look back over our shoulder and assess why we keep failing at something or why we keep running into the same problem or practicing the same bad habit. We find that later. Oh, I needed that. I needed that to turn the page. I needed my own life. I needed that to evolve. I needed that to grow. I needed that introspection. Because if it was all just green lights and life was one big summer Saturday, shoeless summer, and like a Saturday, well then what's it all for? It's kind of like it's all for entertainment. There's no evolution and then we eventually get bored. So you need the reds and the yellows and even hardships and tragedies in the red lights and life. There's gifts in there and to realize that there's a green light asset in my life because my father died.

You go, wait a minute, how's that a green light? No, I'm not saying his dying is a green light. That's a red light. But boy, did I learn a bunch of courage sooner than I would have if he just still been alive because I was trusting that he had my back, that he was a crutch for me. And his passing way made me go, you better start becoming the young man you want to become and quit acting like one is to be in one. So there was a green light asset in his passing.

Again, it doesn't deny the red light, but there's a green light asset in our red yellow lights. I totally relate to that. My dad actually passed away this past May, and since then, I remember in your book, you were saying, you know, it was kind of serendipitous when my dad died because his closing of his life really led to the opening of my life.

And I thought, and it was just like a nice, beautiful closing of that chapter and opening of yours. And I can totally relate because right after my father died, it's like my downloads 10 X. I launched pretty much a million dollar business. I landed a TED talk like all these positive things started happening and it's because like you said, I lost that crutch of my father being there for me. I just found this new passion for life and thought, let me just work even harder

than I was working before. And I really believed in myself. And I think believing in everything and believing that life is limitless is really how you end up just accomplishing your goals. I know that you had this speech at Houston, you did like a commencement speech or something like that,

where you talked about unbelievable being a word that you dislike. So can you talk to us about that word unbelievable and why you don't like that, where you talked about unbelievable being a word that you dislike. So can you talk to us about that word unbelievable and why you don't like that word? I think it's stupid as well in the dictionary. Unbelievable. What an unbelievable play. What an unbelievable movie. What an unbelievable sunset.

What an unbelievable beautiful person. What? These things in life that are all some, why would we call them unbelievable? These are the things that make us believe more in the all of life. So it's the Antenim and it discredits the limits of beauty. It discredits the evil mankind can possess. Let's go to the negative. Let's go to the ugly side. Somebody flew on 9-11,

flew a plane into the Twin Towers in America, unbelievable. No, it just happened. Give more credit to the evil mankind can possess, as well as give more credit to the awe and the beauty in life. These things are not unbelievable. And so I think the word unbelievable can be used so often that we actually, it makes us numb and in denial of the extreme beauties and extreme tragedies that life just has. You know, on Earth plate problems and tidal wave. It was unbelievable.

No, it wasn't. It just happened. Look that in the eye. And so that's why I don't like the word. It's a cop out word. Yeah, totally. Okay. Let's take things back to your childhood.

I want to get into some of these really amazing stories that are in your book, Green Lights. One of my favorite stories that I heard on there was your mother telling you since you were a child that you were little Mr. Texas, right? And so she told you that growing up in all throughout your life, your childhood, your teens, you believed that you were little Mr. Texas, but then later on in life, when you were much older, you looked at that trophy, you dusted it off and realized that you were just the runner up.

So I thought this was a great lesson in terms of parenting and the fact that you can really instill confidence in your children and that's really important. And I wanna know, do you think you would be who you are today if you had never thought you were little Mr. Texas. It's a fun question and I throw it out there, fun.

Like I think I think I would be where I am today if I'd have grown, but it's a fun question to entertain. In 1977, I entered a little Mr. Texas contest. I get a trophy, I'm holding a trophy, I get a picture taken. I mean, my mom puts that trophy, that picture up in the kitchen and every morning tells me, look at you, you are Little Mr. Texas.

And I grow up, I'm Little Mr. Texas. I'm like, well, it was just a couple of years ago that I come across that picture. Cut to 2019, 2018, and I zoom in on the name plate on the trophy and it says, run her up. Well, I'm like, what did it? 97, 87, 87, 97, 07, 17, what, 41 years later, I find that. And you know what, I remember I went to my mom, I'm like, mom, I was runner up all these

years. She goes, no, no, no, you were a little Mr. Text. I go, mom, I'm like, Mom, I was running up all these years. She goes, no, no, no, you were a little Mr. Texas. I go, Mom, it says runner up. She goes, no, the kid who won, his family was rich. And they had enough money to buy. I'm a really expensive suit. We call that cheating.

So you're a little Mr. Texas. So she's still like you, you get to sit there and says, no, you're still it. So that's, that's my mom is a great mala proper. And that's what I grew up believing. And you know, when we grow older, we all find that little, little white lives that were told us, hopefully they're harmless.

Some of them can't be harmful. But we find out, you know, I'm sure maybe you found out things about your father who just passed away. Things where the message was different than the messenger. You know, there's a gap between those. And I know I did when my father moved on, I've done that, I felt that way when many loved ones moved on. And the first feeling that sometimes we get is,

well, how dare they? They didn't live by that, but they were telling me that. We'll get over that part and go, no, you know what? They want to be a little bit better than they were. They maybe weren't able to act it out, but they wanted me to be able to. And there's grace in that. So that was an innocent little white lie that my mom told me

for 41 years, but it all worked out. So how else did your parents instill confidence in you? Because as an actor, and you were actually a very natural actor, you just walked on set basically to start your acting career and you didn't really go to school before you started first acting.

So you had this natural confidence and I think little things like this add up. So what else did your parents do to instill confidence in you, do you think? You know, we were always pushed to be ourselves, know ourselves. And it's true, it's true to this day, if the, who else is more interesting, or should be more interesting, to get to know than ourselves. And if we can then be more of ourselves, we are inherently becoming more original daily because there's only

all of us. So, you know, we see people, we look up to people, we see things, we want to be more like them, I wanted to be more like my older brother. Yeah, all that's fine, but boy, if you can sit there and go, who am I? And I know my parents are still like, wait, get to know yourself. You can be confident with who you are as much as you can be. And that's not easy. That's not easy to do. But it's a task worth taking up. It's a challenge worth taking. And it's a challenge that's never over. I'm still doing it.

I'm going to be doing it hopefully until the day I die. It's a challenge that's never over. It's a constant, infinite quest that we never really arrive at being completely our true selves. But boy, what a race to be chasing after our true selves. And my mom would throw out quotes like, we'd be nervous to go to the dance and junior high, where they're first date. And she'd be like, don't you walk into that place

like you want to buy it. You walk in there like you own it. You'd be like, whoa, what? Okay. You know, so like, you know, she threw that line back at me before my time to kill audition, which I was very nervous, which I ended up getting. I called her and she was like,

don't you walk in there like you, you want that part. You walk in there like you are that part. And just great, mental perspective to go. Okay, and that has probably helped me. I think it's something that can help all of us, not let moments become bigger than we are. And then, which is I think is a very good thing to for us all to try and understand. Don't let the moment become bigger than we are and then, which is I think is a very good thing to for us all to try and understand. Don't let the moment become bigger than you. You gain self-respect

from that. You gain self-trust from that. You gain confidence from that. Yeah, I think that's a really good insight. And it kind of goes back to like your journaling. You seem to be very introspective like you like to reflect on your life, write things down, think about it, and that probably also helps your confidence, too, because you get to know yourself better. Well, yeah, I mean, I've also, you know, in the writing of this book, to go back and look at my journals from 36 years of being the past was a daunting task. I'm not an italian guy. I don't really like to look back. I don't even watch all my movies. I don't watch any of my interviews. I'm not an intelligent guy. I don't really like to look back. I don't even watch all my movies.

I don't watch any of my interviews. I'm like, I don't want to, I'm comfortable. I'm like, no, I was there. You know, I know what I did. I felt it. I don't need to go back and look at it and be a voyeur on it. I know, I felt what I did, but I don't like to look back and see replays of things I've done

or look back in my life and see who I was. Well, to do that, I went back and I was like, man, I'm going to be embarrassed of who I was at time. I'm going to feel shameful. I'm going to feel guilty. I'm going to see times where I was an arrogant little prick. And I'm not going to like who I was. And I was like, well, I dare you, McConaughey, I dare you to go look back. And I was all those things. But I found out that most of the things I thought I'd be embarrassed about, I lost that. Most of the things I thought I'd be shamed about and feel guilty about, I'd know either already forgiven myself for or forgave myself for. And times where I was like, yeah, you were an arrogant little no at all. Boy, what a, that was ugly. Boy, you were such a no at all. It was ugly. But then I noticed, well, actually,

your arrogance at that time in your life, Matthew, gave you the confidence to put yourself in a position to humiliate it, which you needed. Which you wouldn't have had the confidence to put yourself in a position to get humbled if you wouldn't have been that arrogant. So everything sort of had its own little green night, you know? Young and profitors, do you have a brilliant business idea, but you

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So don't wait. Now is the time to turn your business idea into a reality by listening to the Millionaire University podcast. New episodes drop Mondays and Thursdays. Find the Millionaire University podcast on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah, it's so interesting. And speaking of red light, screen lights,

let's talk about a red light that you had. And it's another one of my favorite stories from your book. It was your trip to Australia. So you went to Australia for one year, a rotary exchange program after you graduated high school. And you stayed with a very unusual family. You were a very nice kid. You were trying to be respectful to them. and you didn't really know if it was just cultural differences or if something really was going on. And tell us about that story, how it was a red light and how you turned it on its head and turned it into a green light.

Well, so I just come out of high school where I was catching all green lights. Meaning, I made straight A's, so mom and dad were happy in high school. I just turned 18, which means for the first time I no longer had a curfew. I had a car, it's paid for. I had a job, I had 45 bucks in my back pocket at all times. I was dating the best of a girl at my school, dating the best of a girl across town. I had a poor handicapped in golf. I was rolling. Like, it was great.

And it's like a screeching halt. I'm in this little town, the middle of nowhere. I got no car, I got no friends, I got no girlfriends, I do have a curfew. I have no job and I don't even have my golf clubs. And I've got nothing around me. And I was with it in a strange circumstance with an unusual family.

And I went a little bit insane. While I was going insane over there, and the reason I was going insane is because I only had me to rely on. I was writing 14 page letters to me and returning them, writing a 14 letter, page letter back to me. I mean, this was, I was in a sacradic sort of implosion,

but I felt at the time, because everyone was like, why didn't you come home? Why didn't you come home? Why didn't you come home? Well, one, I told the rotary people, I said, I'll go off, give you a handshake, that I'm not coming home before the year's over.

So I felt part of the challenge I wanted to live up to. Secondly, I felt like, even while I was losing my mind, I was like, I had a hunch. This is a penance for a reason. There's light at the, there's something, if you can survive this and get out of this, because I was forced to get to know myself I didn't have anybody else to go. Hey, is this cool with their saying or what they want me to do?

There was, I had no sounding board. I didn't have mom and dad, I didn't have friends, I had to ask myself so I had to form my own identity and form my own judgment and form my own discernment of things that I would stand up for or wouldn't stand up for. Things that would let slide or wouldn't and it was hard because I'm an 18 year old kid just becoming an adult, but it was wonderful because I was forced to. I was forced to, but hook her by crook, make up my own mind and figure out

how I was gonna navigate through this hairy situation without anybody else's help. And it was a great ride of passage for me. And a year, you brought up a little Mr. Texas or would I be here with that little, if I had a thought I was runner up? I think so. Would I be here with that year in Australia? I doubt it.

What makes you think that? Like, what happened in Australia? Like, tell us some of the stories in terms of some of the weird things. Well, yeah, it's really really the book for the story, because the story's really well written, I think, and it's got great details in there. So I'm not gonna go into those, because they're better to read those.

But again, it was a year in my life where I was lost, lonely, alone, losing my mind, taking up odd disciplines that, when I look back, are hilarious and horrific at the same time. I did not think I was losing my mind, but I look back at the letters I was writing, and I look back at letters I even wrote my mom kept ones I wrote her, I look at them like, did you know I was losing my mom and mom's like, well I had a hunch. I mean, it's a 17 line run

on sentence here you wrote. You know, when you're going and saying, you like, I have too many adverts and adverts, you just overly, just mentally, not midgetizing almost, just imploding. And it was just a, it was a year where I was forced to get to know myself. It was a year of forced introspection.

And then, till then, I guess I'd been an introspective person, but I was much more of an extrovert. I was not a writer, not a reader. I was not a contemplator. That year I was forced to, because my only form of entertainment or freedom or insanity was me and me. And I did not always enjoy the company, but I was forced with me. So I had to get through it. I went through it. So coming out of that, I ran into hardships and life and still do today. But I'm like, Oh, that's nothing. I am what I endured that year. This is nothing. And so I have gone through things that may, if I wouldn't have had that year, I may have thought some crises and hardships. I've had my life. I'd be like, if I wouldn't have had that year, I may have thought some crises and hardships I've had in my life.

I'd be like, if I didn't have that year, I'd be like, oh my gosh, this is daunting. But because that year, I look at things that maybe that otherwise would have been daunting and then I'm like, oh no, I got this. I'll handle this. This is nothing. And I totally agree with you. The story in the book is so entertaining. So everybody listening right now, go check out Greenlight's. Make sure you buy the book, listen to the Audible. I was cracking up during the story in the book is so entertaining. So everybody listening right now, go check out Greenlight's, make sure you buy the book,

listen to the audible. I was cracking up during the story. He basically was like, almost kidnapped by this family that basically wanted him to be their son and it's just a crazy story. You definitely got to listen to it. I loved it.

So let's talk about when you, so you came back to the US and then you were gonna go to college, right? And you wanted to be a lawyer for a while. I think go to college, right? And you wanted to be a lawyer for a while. I think since you were in high school, you wanted to be a lawyer. So you were going on that path. And there was one school that you wanted to go to that was quite expensive and one that was more local, that was more affordable.

And your brother actually told you like, hey, you should probably go to the cheaper school because your dad's having some financial struggles, right? And you quickly made the decision to respect your father. You never told him why you made that decision, but you went to the cheaper school and you listened to your brother. And to me, as like somebody that young, that really showed me that you were mature,

you had really good decision-making skills at that age. So talk to us about that decision. Talk to us about your decision-making process in general and how you were able to have that good judgment so young. Well, we're a close family. And I knew the school I wanted to go to was was was that seem to you. It was in Dallas, Texas. My idea was that as a lawyer in the big city of Dallas, I'll be able to get an internship early on. So when I get out of school and I'm in of Dallas, I'll be able to get an internship early on. So when I get out of school and I'm in law school, I'll jump right into the job because I'll

already have a planted my feet and I've planted seeds within a law firm that I want to work in because it's a big metropolis. This other school, you know, Texas was in a smaller town in Austin, but it was a state school. So it was about a third of the price. Well, my dad said, well, when you want to go to the university of Texas at Austin, I'm like, no, sir, I want to go to the desk. He's like, sure. I'm like, yes, sir. He's like, okay, okay. And I remember you question, but I was wondering why is he questioning? But he didn't ever say you'd be doing me a big favor because it costs a lot less. But my brother calls me.

say you'd be doing me a big favor because it costs a lot less. But my brother calls me. And we're a close family. My brother says, Hey man, dad's not going to tell you this. But he's in business is tough right now. And it's going to cost 18 grand to go to SMU. It'll cost five grand to go to Texas. You'd be doing in a real solid if you chose you versus Texas. And hey, my brother didn't call, but those things, I wouldn't have got that call on whimsy. You know what I mean? So my brother to tell me that, and then to also know that my dad had too much pride to let me know that. I'm like, oh, okay.

Yep, got it. It was sort of, it was very, very quickly and then the decision's like, got it. Yeah, I'll go to your study. I never, never told my dad that's why. So I call my dad and go, dad, I sorry I want to go to university text and he's like oh great idea buddy you know super idea way to go and I'm like yep just change my mind you know so another decision that hey would I be here now if I didn't go to university of Texas at

Austin of a city in the university that had been very good to me and I love a lot. I don't know if I'd be here now. Would I be going to law school and become a lawyer? I'd gone to SMU. Well, that decision probably based on how tight we are as a family. My dad never asked anything of me. My dad had too much honor and pride to tell me, to tell anybody in our family.

I found that since he's passed away, there were many times that he was almost bankrupt. We couldn't tell, we had no idea. We never went out. We were middle class and lived more like upper middle class, probably. We never knew he was financially strapped. Now, does that lead up to

part of the stress he had that led up to him having a heart attack at 62? Probably, but he never showed us. We never felt like we were going, he never once said we can't afford that. And so, even at that age of 18, I'm like, what an honorable cool thing of a father to do. He's not even letting us know that he can't afford the school. And he would have found a way. If I would have, if I'd just gone to that other school, he would have paid for it. He would have found a way. And I would have never known that it was taxing on his finances. So that was obvious to me when my brother said that. So that was a quick decision to go, oh yeah, let's do data solid here. And I'll make

this other school work, which it turned out to be a gift. That I went to this school, even if it was even if it would cost three times more than the other one. I mean, I'm that I went to this one, but it did. It was three times less. Well, how about another tough decision when you decided to go to film school? What was, why did you decide to just switch gears, let go of the dream of being a lawyer, and how did your father take that information? Well, I was not sleeping well for the first time with the idea of becoming a lawyer. And it's all everyone to be. And now here I am,

what have a 19, 20, 20, 21 years old, and I'm starting to think, I don't know if I want to go to law school, I got to graduate here, then I 20, 21 years old? And I'm starting to think, I don't know if I wanna go to law school. I gotta graduate here, then I go four more years to law school, then I get out. Basically, I will be working, putting my stamp or my fingerprint in society until I'm in my 30s. I don't know, but one's been my entire 20s learning.

At the same time, I've been writing a lot, been writing short stories, been sharing short stories with a writer friend of mine who's telling me, hey, those are pretty damn good. Probably secretly enjoying performing in front of the camera, but not even able to admit it yet. So I said, I want to go to film school to get in behind the camera to learn the art of storytelling from behind the camera and get into the storytelling business. Well, I'm very nervous to call my father, who's paying for my school to tell him, I don't want to go to law school anymore, I want to go to film school. Remember I come from a blue collar family, which is, you get a job and you work your way

up a company ladder, you get something that's dependable. The arts, film production, storytelling, that's a hobby on Saturday, yeah, you can do it, but that's not the way you do it. I'm not going to pay for you to go get educated in that. It felt full of our guard to European, to whimsical of an idea to even do. Well, I decided to call them one night and tell them that that's what I'd like to do.

Ask, tell. And I called and said, Dad, I don't want to, I decided I don't really want to get a law school anymore. I want to go to law school anymore. I want to go to film school. And he goes, you sure that's what you and I did? I said, yes, sir. And the next three words he said to me were incredible. He said, well, don't have acid. And I remember getting tingles at the time and almost crying because my dad in saying, don't have acid. he didn't just approve my choice.

He gave me responsibility, accountability, more than privilege. He gave me freedom, courage, and a challenge to go do it. And in looking back at that moment, because I really did not think that's how the phone calls were to go, I thought he was going to be like, you want to what, boy, what, what are you talking about? But in a matter of a 22nd conversation, he said, where I told him that I wanted to make a complete career choice change in school, 22nd slater, he said, don't have to ask it. I think what it was is that like any parent out there, we build structure for our children.

Here's what you should do, follow these rules. Stay within the line and That's good because a lot of us will succeed to a certain extent if we do that and that's that is a very worthy thing to do But when a parent's really I think happy is when a child maybe is forced enough to come to them and go I'm breaking out. I'm going on my own and go, I'm breaking out, I'm going on my own, I'm doing it. And I think he heard in my voice, when I said, I don't wanna go to law school and more I wanna go to film school, even though I was calling to ask permission,

I really wasn't. He heard the certainty in his son's voice. Because if I would have gone, I mean, I think I do, I don't know, he'd probably said, hell no. Because I would have been bluffing. He'd have heard me bluffing, right? So he heard my voice that I was not bluffing, that I really wasn't asking permission.

And that's what gave him, I think, the pride, the honor, and the pleasure to go, yes. That my son is letting me know I've raised him well enough to frame, to have the confidence confidence to come to me and go, that this is what I'm doing. And that may be very happy. And I think that something makes any parent happy. Yeah, and it probably really helped you, you know, because I think he passed not too long after that.

It probably really helped you that he supported your acting decision, and that probably gave me the confidence to keep on going town that path. Confidence and courage, and I had my own bit of honor and pride to say, look, dad gave you more than approval to go chase down this as a career path. And now that he's gone, it gave me more courage to go, well now you're really better not half-ass it. You really better not quit it this.

You really better make this happen. You really better succeed. You really better not half-ass. You're really better not quit at this. You better make this happen. You're really better succeed. You really better do everything you can to be as good of an actor as you can. So inherently, I'm sure that was part of it too, of me going, I'm doing this for more than just me. So let's talk about the beginnings of your acting career. Like I mentioned before, you are very natural.

You ended up kind of forcing your way to get your breakout role on Days and Confused. So tell us about that. Tell us how you convinced the director to give you that part. Well, I go out to this bar in Austin one night with my girlfriend that I'm Tonya. And I knew the bartender who was in film school with me

and he says, hey, there's a guy down to the bar and I'm down Phillips. He's in town producing a film. He's been coming here every night. He's staying in the hotel. Go down and introduce. I introduce myself. Well, three hours later, he and I are talking golf and telling stories and movies we like

et cetera. We get kicked out of the bar. On the cab right home to drop me off that night. He's riding with me and it's dropped me off in my apartment and he says, hey, you ever done any acting before? And I said, I mean, I was in this Miller light commercial for about that long and I was in this music video and he was like, well, you might be right for this part. You know, there's a guy called Wooderson. Here, I'm going to leave a script for you at this address. Come down to Marmor and pick it up. It's three lines, but it's cool character. You might be right for it. Well, I go

pick up that script. There are three lines. I study those three lines for two weeks. I come back. I audition for the director Richard Linklater. I get the part. Now, all of a sudden, I'm on set one night. I'm not supposed to work. I'm doing a hair makeup and wardrobe test, which is where you just put on your makeup and your wardrobe and when the director has a free time, he walks off the set and comes and looks you up and down and gives you note to what happened.

Not supposed to work this night. My first day to work is a week later. Well, the director comes up and looks me and goes, yeah, this is worse than I like it. And all of a sudden, as I'm about to say goodbye, he goes, hey, you know, you think Woterson would be interested in the red-headed intellectual girl in school? And I'm like, yeah, man Woterson likes all kinds of girls. He goes, well, there's a girl Marissa Rebece, who's playing the role of Cynthia, the red-headed intellectual. and she's over here in the car and she's got three nerdy friends. I don't know, maybe Wooderson pulls up, tries to pick her up, tells her there's a party later on. I'm like, give me 30 minutes.

I took a walk with myself and I was like, who's my man? Who's Wooderson? Who's this guy? There's this scene I'm being invited into that there's no lines written for. Next thing I know, I'm in the car about shooting my first scene ever. There's not a line written for it. All I know is the scenario. And I'm telling myself, who's my man?

Who's the character I'm playing? And I'm getting kind of nervous. And I tell myself to myself, I said, I'm about my car. And I said, well, I'm in my 70s, Chevelle. There's one, I said, I'm about getting high. I said, well, Slater's riding shotgun. He's always got to do be rolled up. There's two. I said, I'm about getting high. I said, well, Slater's riding shotgun. He's always got to do be rolled up. There's two. I said, I'm about rock and roll. I said, I got Ted Newsom stranglehold in the eight track playing right now.

There's three and all of a sudden, they hear action. And I look up across the parking lot at the red-headed intellectuals, Cynthia. And I go, and me, what are some? I'm about picking up chicks. And as I said that, it went through my mind as I put it in drive. Well, I've got three out of four and I'm going to get the fourth. All right, all right, all right. And pulled out. And it's the first three words I ever said on camera in a film in 1992 and

Then we did the scene and then I kept getting invited back every night the director kept inviting me back And that whole cast would involve me in the scenes They'd ask me questions in the middle of the middle of the scene and sort of they wrote me into the picture And also then I worked three weeks three lines turned to three weeks work. And it was awesome. And I had a great time doing it. People were telling me I was good at it. I'm getting paid $300 a day.

I'm going, is this legal? Is so much fun. And people were telling me, I got it. Please, I go back, I graduate college. And I drive out to Hollywood with you hauling 3000 bucks the next year. And here I am 28, 29 years later turned into a career. Wow.

It just goes to show that you need to really like take your opportunities because that opportunity, you could have just chickened out. You could have just been like, you know what? I'm not ready. I didn't get my lines. I've never done this before. You could have just chickened out. And you had that one moment,

whatever how many minutes that was, 30 minutes you said to figure it out and get the balls to kind of just do it. And I just think that people need to realize that sometimes you need to take the opportunities that are in your face, because they could just go away forever. They can, and you know that window of opportunity

so many times it opens up and we see it. And if we start to go, hmm, should I take it? That can sometimes already be too much time. It closes. So I remember he goes, you know, I was just answering the question, yeah, I like to do, you know what I mean? Think about my Mandy, you want to do this?

I'm already seeing this as like, well, this could be an opportunity. I don't know what the hell I'm going to do, but this is, let me go try and figure it out and then try and relax and just be my, be my man, be my character. But yeah, they do open up. And you know, I could have said no, and still been invited back and done the three scenes, the three lines and the three scenes, and could have done well. But I don't, I don't think I would be sitting here right now seeing the three lines and the three scenes and could have done well. But I don't think I would be sitting here right now

with the life I have or the career I have. And but I've tried to take that into my acting career throughout is even if it's one line character, think about what that whole character is in every scenario. Write a book on that character. So if you're in any position and someone throws you an improv line and asks you a question, you got an idea of what you've got, what's your person would say, your character would say. And I guess as I'm saying this, it goes along

with who we are in life as well. Know ourselves well enough. Play ourselves out and project ourselves in the different scenarios. To where if we're in them, we can improvise and be ourselves. to where if we're in them, we can improvise and be ourselves. Yeah, and BSO, it also goes back to BSO prepared that nobody has a choice but to give you that opportunity because they just know, oh, he's got it, he's so good. Give them no choice but to give you that opportunity if it comes up. If it comes up and it's a fine line because because look, you can, you know, say,

oh, I gotta look for opportunity, so I gotta create, yes, we do create opportunities, but you gotta know your zone, you gotta read the room, you gotta know what you're dealing with, meaning, say if I wanted to be in that scene that night, but wasn't invited, which I risen one. And say I went up and they were like, okay, your car, you can go home now. I'm like, no, I'm going to stay on sex. I'm

looking for my opportunity, right? And then maybe they're not getting the scene down and they're having trouble getting the scene. And I'm over there on the sideline, nervous thinking, when am I going to find my opening to say, hey, can I get in here? And maybe I say it. And they're like, look at me. I go, who the hell is this guy trying to get in here? And maybe I say it and they're like, look at me, I go, and who the hell is this guy trying to get in here? And we're trying to, hell, no, you can't. Then I go home and then they're going, do we want to invite this guy back to do the three lines we hired him to do?

He's actually in the ass. He's trying to, he didn't gracefully. So it's a bit of go after what you want, but also sit back and be prepared enough for it. The opportunity comes, you're like, I got it. Put me in coach, give me the ball. You know, but you can't be overbearing because sometimes you'll be overbearing and you're

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That's when I was a teenager. I was watching you all day, you know. Um, and so talk to us about that. Like, did you like doing romcoms? You also say that romcoms were green lights for you or like the green light of movie. So tell us about that and your experience there. Yeah, I did enjoy romcoms. You know, they were light.

They were fun. When I prepare for them enough, the actual making of the movies, the acting of the movies were easy. They were supposed to be easy. It's a flow. The romcom is not... The characters aren't, you know.

You say, you know, how long is it going? I'm an advertising agent. But the character's not about my character as an advertising agent. It's just a job I've got. So it's not... What I talk about, it's not have to be job specific. It's all about the lingo between the boy and the girl

or the couple, whoever they are. They have the sauce. Are you looking at him going, oh, this is good. And you've got to have a jost. There's always a jost. You know, in a rom-com, boy, it means girl usually. They go on, they break up for some reason. At the end in the third act, boy, chases girl, gets her roller credits.

You know that's going to happen. You know the couple's gonna get together. You just wanna have a good time seeing them do it. You want to think that it's gonna fail, but the NB happy way does succeed. You wanna be in on the joke when Kate Hudson's gonna trying to trick me. You wanna be in on the, and I don't know it,

but you, the audience know it, and she does. You wanna be in on the joke when I'm about to trick her, but she doesn't know it, but you, the audience know it and she does. You want to be in on the joke when I'm about to trick her, but she doesn't know it, but you, the audience knows it. You want to have fun seeing each other, let's do each other in an innocent way. So there's, it's about lingo. You can improvise in those things. And I had always been a very comfortable improviser. And you play out the scenario and try and wiggle your way out of the, out of the trouble and try to come out of the scene and winning. And that's part of the fun of watching Ron Conn. Seeing each character try and win and not always winning,

watching someone fail, get duped, and then maybe recover or not. So they were great fun. And I did, you know, there also a medium budget in Hollywood terms at that time, they were like $35 million budget, it's not $80 million budget. So you could put them out, they didn't know, the dollars budget, it's not $80 million dollars budget.

So you could put them out, they didn't know, the studio didn't have to put out so much bank. And the ones that I was doing were doing very well. And then they were getting played on at the time, cable TV and DVDs and now they're still playing. So that's also money back to the studio. And they were succeeding. I was the rom-com guy, go to guy.

And I had done like three or four now that had all succeeded. And I was starting to feel like, I feel like, okay, I'd read the next rom-com script, and I feel like, oh, that's a good one, but I feel like I could do this tomorrow morning. I want something that I'm looking at and going like, I don't know what I'm gonna do with this character, but I can't wait to find out. And that was not romcoms.

So I decided to take a sabbatical from romcoms. So I just said, just say, look, the dramatic fair I wanna do, they're not offering me that. No one wants to finance the math and macon I hate a drama. So I said, if I can't do what I want to do, I'm going to quit doing what I've been doing. So I said, no more romcoms. Well, that man, I was going to go with that work for a while. And I did have to go with that work for a while. I didn't get offered anything,

but rom comes for the first six months. I said no to them all. And then for the next year and a half, I got offered nothing. So I go basically two years without working, wanting to work, but not working. And then after two years, I think I gained some anonymity.

I think in the audiences' and the studios eyes that make the movies it was like where's my come at. As it been in a romcom in front of us on the screen we don't know where he is. We haven't seen him shirtless on the beach in Malibu. Where is he? Well I was a down in Texas. I've now say a note of romcom is waiting hopefully for something else to come. Well, after two years, with that anonymity that I gained, I unbranded and I became a new good idea for those dramatic roles that I wanted to do. So it took two years of being gone to be able to be seen for the first time as, hey, you know, be interesting casting, original cool casting for Lincoln lawyer,

Killer Joe, paper boy, magic mind, mud, burning, true detective, Dallas, Barska. Come on, hey, but it wouldn't have happened unless I took the two years off and unbranded. Yeah, it's so interesting because, you know, you're celebrity, right? And so you needed to do that because everybody knew who you were. They recognized you as a certain character, and you needed to unbrand yourself. And that's something that I think, like the average person doesn't really have experience with.

We can just reinvent ourselves continually, and it doesn't really, people aren't paying attention that closely where that would ever be an issue. Right. Well, and look, and I understand, you know, and some of the listeners of me have got their going, yeah, well, lucky you, you were able to take off work for two years to unbrand.

Not everyone can do that. I get that. I had invested well and been very conservative with my money enough to be where I could maintain a certain lifestyle without working. And I was trying to do some voice work during that time, but no acting. So yeah, I was in a privileged position to take time off.

But the concept is still useful for anyone, is to go, boy, if I can't do what I want to do, maybe I need to quit doing what I'm doing. It's about when I talk about the book about finding out on that deity, it's not always about knowing what we want to do. That's hard. What's easier is to eliminate the things in our life of who we are not, whether that's work, whether that's who we're hanging out with, where we're going, how we're greeting

the day, what we're drinking, how much we're sleeping, whatever that is. So let's continue on this topic in terms of celebrity and some differences in terms of like what you guys have to deal with. And my boyfriend's actually a very famous hip-hop producer and I've dealt with it with him over the years. Now I'm starting to gain a fraction of celebrity, not anything compared to you or him. But I know that your mother actually, you had a falling out with your mother for quite some time because she was really interested in your celebrity and even invited tabloid news people into your house and you felt like you couldn't be yourself around your mother for that reason.

And I know a lot of celebrities are very private about their life and really just try to keep that separate because I'm sure it could be really hard. So talk to us about that and maybe some of the things that you've struggled with with your celebrity and how you deal with it. Sure. Well, so I became this celebrity sort of over one weekend.

And it was when a time to kill came out. I mean, I was a bit of a celebrity before maybe to a certain extent, but I became famous when a time to kill came out. I mean, I was a bit of a celebrity before maybe to a certain extent, but I became famous in a time to kill him. That weekend, I was the lead in a major studio Warner Brothers picture that did well. And that film opened on that Friday, my life changed from that Friday to the following Monday

over the weekend when that movie came out. The world was a mirror. All of a sudden, everyone was looking at me and had an idea and a biography of who I was, what they thought about me. People come up and go, oh my God, I'm so sorry about Ms. Hud. And I'm like, I've never met you. How do you know I have a dog?

How do you know her name's Ms. Hud? How do you know she has cancer? What's your name? You just skip like four things and you jumped right into my life. I'm like, whoa, you know, three days ago, you were a were a stranger now you're not or you're at least acting like you're not You lose anonymity so

I had to go chose to go off on my own to take some walk about to the backpack to gain my anonymity and sit with myself and go Okay, all of a sudden you have all these new options in your life. You have all the, what was 99 knows and one yes last Friday is now 99 yeses and one no. Wow, that's great. But at the same time it's like, oh shit, what do you want me to do? Three days ago, I would have done any of this, but I couldn't. And now you're telling me I can do almost all of it. And you want me to decide? So, you know, with all the options,

and then when the roof was taken off, I was like, well, there's only 24 hours in the day. What do I want to, I need some discernment here to decide what does I want to do? I needed to go off, spend time with myself, figure out the hell matter to me. And what did another lesson though that I learned with fame seven years in after that become famous is that with fame, you start to get a lot of things.

You often get the backstage passes. You get to the front of the line. You get things carte blanche handed to you. And it's awesome. At the same time, I went through a bit of an imposter syndrome, sort of non-deserving complex, like a wide, wide meet. Why not? Do I deserve this? And I was a little awkward with the champagne and caviar that were now being handed to me for free. And I was like, okay, okay, again, a few days ago, I couldn't even have this, but I learned to, and all of a sudden people say, throw the word I love you around more,

and I'm like, that's a word I've only said to four people, but everyone's telling me they love me, and I don't even know them, what's this mean? And I took it personally to some extent. But I learned seven years after my fame that, oh, it's not none of it's personal, it's business. I had, when the height of my fame, I could get anyone on the,

any studio head on the phone, anybody on the phone. Well, then I go do a few movies that don't do as well. They don't return my calls. Then all of a sudden, my career picks back up, I don't do well. Now they're calling me. Well, I could either choose to go f-you, man.

I remember when you wouldn't call, or go. It's cool. It's all business, I got it. So when I made it less personal, and said, oh, it's all business, just roll with it, just how the flow goes, of my career. And if someone who becomes famous or less famous at the time, and they're more famous again, it ain't personal,

it's business. If you get that joke, that's the joke to get with fame. It ain't personal. It's business. If you get that joke, that's the joke to get with thing. It ain't personal. It's business. If you get that joke, you'll be a lot less stressed. You'll be able to accept all of the adulation better. You'll be able to accept the champagne and caviar easier with grace, but you'll also for me not necessarily need that for your sense of identity as much because it's fleeting. You got to watch it with fame.

When you go to that and you need the attention, look at musicians. Now get it. You're on a stage with thousands of people looking up, adoring you in a show. What happens when you're not touring live anymore or no one's buying your albums. Huh. Real life, regular life? It's not enough to get off to. I need more of a buzz. I can't get off to this because I was so high. Then you got to watch how much we get our identity and our sense of satisfaction and pleasure from things that you get at the height of fame. You've got to appreciate it, I think, but make sure they're not just completely making up your sense of who you are. Because in fame, it's infinite yeses.

Now, actually, the devil be living. The will be living in the infinite. Yes, it's not the nose. I mean, too many options can make a tyrant of any of us. So that's what you've got to watch with fame. But you have all access. Well, if you've got all access, ooh, you can, you can peter out and burn out because you just don't have the energy or you've got to watch your health

and your mental health and your spiritual health and your mental health, and your spiritual health, and your physical health. So take some time, if you're fortunate enough to get famous, take some time to go check in with yourself and go, what matters to me? Because I write about this in the book, for the first time, you can do things that you never could do before.

So your first instinct is, go, well, yes. Why, yes? Because I never had the option before. So your first instinct is go, well, yes. Why yes? Because I never had the option before. So of course, well, as yourself, if you want to, before you do, when you can. I think that's excellent advice. And I just have to say that you've been so humble. I didn't know what you're gonna be like.

You're obviously very famous. You've got a lot of privilege, but you do give back to the community. So I did want to give you a chance to talk about your foundation. Tell us a little bit about your foundation and its mission. Sure, just keep living foundation. We're in after school, Title I schools, which is schools with lower income families and students, a lot of single parent homes, 50% dropout rate. So we have a curriculum in those schools after school days

where kids and young men and women come to set a exercise goal. Maybe that is, I wanna get in shape so I can make the football team and I'm not in shape. We'll help you get in shape. Or maybe it's, I need to lose four pounds so I can fit my prom dress. We're gonna help you do that. We teach nutrition goals.

Okay, instead of five cheeseburgers again for dinner, let's take that $38 and we're gonna take it to a supermarket and you can buy vegetables, rice, beans, and maybe even some meat, a healthier meal, and you also get to cook it with your family. Third thing, community service. All the students have to do community service within their own community. And fourth thing is we have what we call a gratitude circle, which at the end of each curriculum, all the students sit around and openly

share something they're thankful for in life. And the coolest thing about that is the students come and they're saying, I love the gratitude circle because I'm hearing my friends say thank you for things in their life. But I have in my life that I've always taken for granted and never said thank you for. So we believe that the more you're thankful for, the more you're gonna create your life to be thankful for. I think gratitude creates responsibility

because if you get more value to things, you want to take care of them, and, you want to take care of them, and if you want to take care of the things that matter to you, that's actually how you get more freedom. So that's what we're providing in our curriculum, giving all the way down to giving these kids, some of them, it's just a safe place

to go after school that they didn't have before. And where can people go to contribute to that foundation? Just keep living, no G on the end, foundation.org or jk-toddandfoundation.org. Thank you. Cool, I'll put that in the show notes. Okay, so the last question I ask, oh my guess, is what is your secret to profiting in life? Well, sometimes it's a greater risk to go for something you want, and sometimes it's a greater risk to sacrifice and say, no, I'm going to go without that. That's really another place where the art, I think, of living is, and we've been talking about that generally in the end for the last 30 minutes. Try through canned to say, okay, look, we all want to make money. Money's good.

It's a great tool. It does help the world go around. And the capitalist side, we need money. I'm all for that. We want to fill our bank account. But let's ask ourselves when we're filling our bank account. Can I also fill my soul's account at the same time? But if we find a way where we can feel our bank account and soul's account,

where we don't feel our bank account at the expense of who we are or what we believe in, we don't like cheating, stealing, screw people over in burn bridges and to get what we want. That's long money. That's real profit. That's so beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing that. Thank you so much for joining us today, Matthew. Where can our listeners go to learn more about you

and everything that you're doing? I mean, I share some pretty cool, what I think some pretty cool stuff on my Instagram, on the official link in Khanahe. If you want to find out about the foundation, just keep living.org. And if you want to find out more about the book, hopefully you go check that and read it and get something from it.

But that's at greenlightsthabook.com or greenlights.com. And hey, I'm still here, living live. Hopefully I'm only halfway through this big thing God, life, we'll see. Awesome, thank you so much, Matthew. I appreciate it. Whoa, it is so surreal that I just interviewed Matthew McConaughey on Young and Profiting Podcast.

It just goes to show you that with a lot of hard work, anything is possible. And honestly, I wasn't even nervous. I felt fully prepared like I've been preparing my whole life for that moment. And everything is just so serendipitous lately. Matthew is technically my hundredth guest interview on Young and Poffing podcast. Since my hundredth episode was a solo episode, he was my hundredth person that I've interviewed on this podcast.

And who better to be number 100 than Matthew freakin Makanahe in fact I landed this Matthew Makanahe interview just a couple weeks ago on the day that I quit my full-time job Can you say green lights? The signs are clear that I made the right decision and I can't wait to see what happens next and I hope you guys follow along on this journey. Life is full of green, yellow, and red lights. The best way to live is just keep on looking forward and I hope Matthew's life stories

have encouraged you to just all keep on living. If I had to just pick one favorite part of this interview, it was when Matthew was talking about how he thinks the word unbelievable is stupid. And it is stupid. Everything is believable because anything is possible. Always remember that and try not to put limiting beliefs on yourself. I encourage all of you to go out and grab green lights by Matthew McConehey. The audible version was especially amazing.

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I think this is a podcast that any professional of any age would enjoy and grow from. Thank you Kate for your amazing review, and I totally agree. Young and profiting podcasts is for your amazing review and I totally agree. Young and profiting podcasts is for all ages and in fact one of my biggest regrets was calling it Young and Profiting Podcast because I think my listeners are really all ages and anyone could find value from this show.

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Big thanks to the YAP team, as always, this is Hala signing off. Are you looking for ways to be happier, healthier, more productive and more creative? I'm Gretchen Ruben, the number one best-selling author of the Happiness Project. And every week we share ideas and practical solutions on the Happier with Gretchen Ruben podcast. My co-host and Happiness Guinea Pig is my sister Elizabeth Kraft. That's me, Elizabeth Kraft, a TV writer and producer

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