The Secret of Matthew McConaughey’s Success
The power to change a life with one habit
I love running in the morning. Especially on those November days in Vienna, Austria. The temperature is much lower than in summer, yet not too cold, though — 5–15 degrees on a Celsius scale.
The sun also rises later. Today the sun rose at about 7 am. The daylight hours will continue to wane until December 21, when the sun rises at about 7:45 am. I love runs in the morning twilight hours (which photographers call magic hours).
I haven’t done studies, but those early morning runs that start at 7 am, seem to have fewer people on the streets than runs in summer, or maybe it is the effect of the second lockdown that started on November 3.
To me, it is perfect running conditions — cool mornings with only a few people on the street and almost no traffic. I made listening to podcasts and audiobooks my daily habit, and while I run. I listen to podcasts like:
Matthew McConaughey — the famous US-Actor — has recently published a book about his life. He seems to have been promoting his life experience on many podcasts lately. Well, he didn’t give me a ring to be on my show, but I have still read his book.
In his book and on the podcast episodes, he emphasized one main thing. The thing to which he credits the magic in his life is:
Journaling
Matthew McConaughey’s method
In the podcast and his book Greenlights, the actor describes that he has been journaling since he was 14 years old. It was back in 1989 when he wrote the following poem in his journal:
I think I’ll write a book. A word about my life. I wonder who would give a damn About the pleasures and the strife?
Now he has his book out on the market and is promoting it on the world’s most famous podcasts.
In both, he describes his process of journaling.
Write down everything
Early in his book, McConaughey includes the following quote:
Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.
Gore Vidal
Matthew states that every day he sits down and puts as many details as possible in his diary.
- Where did you feel great?
- What, exactly, did you do, read, eat, write, or with whom did you spend time?
- What made you feel bad?
- What, exactly, did you do at that moment in time?
The reason he does this is to investigate himself. Ourselves— the only characters we can never get away from. The best thing we can do is to interrogate ourselves, study ourselves, and investigate ourselves. McConaughey suggests getting to know yourself on a deep level.
The red line to success
When you journal every day over the course of many years, you come to understand what makes you feel good. Not the dopamine rush of black chocolate or winning a computer game, but gaining control over the serotonin-route toward happiness:
- What activities do you enjoy?
- What kind of people make you feel good?
- Where did you have spiritual experiences?
You can take all this to design your best life ever.
Also dissect failure
So many times, we dissect failure, but we don’t dissect successes. Journaling helped me recalibrate.
Matthew McConaughey
In his book, he states that we often dissect failures, but do not dissect our successes. Well, the thing is, when it comes to other people’s failures, I see the community loving talking about them.
Instead, sit down, put away the inner mental blame game, look honestly into the mirror, and ask the key question:
Where did I mess up?
How many people can say of themselves that they have this conversation regularly?
Bottom line
The thing is, when you use Matthew’s method daily, you gain a very, very deep insight into yourself. You will learn exactly what you need to do to become happy and what you need to avoid because it only contributes to your unhappiness.
In one of the podcasts I listened to, Matthew brings up the example of a night out in a bar. The next day you feel a tremendous hangover. Just bad. You realize that you didn’t drink much that night, yet it is still the worst hangover you ever experienced.
Maybe it is the location, maybe there were many negative people around, or you just ate something that didn’t sit well.
By writing such experiences in great detail into your journal, you can start avoiding locations, situations, food, beverages, and people that don’t contribute to your happiness.
My current method of journaling — 3x3
What works for Matthew also has worked for me for decades.
I have to admit, I am not as regular a writer as Matthew McConaughey. Sometimes I do it daily, sometimes once a week, and sometimes I don’t do it for a couple of months.
My journaling experience started around the age of 14. I read in a book that writing in a diary helps you make sense of life.
I can’t remember the book, but I got myself my first diary. It was in the ‘80s. I went to a local bookstore. There were many different kinds of journals and I didn’t want to use a regular notebook.
I thought it should look special and resonate with me. There I saw it, amongst others. It was wrapped in a brownish leather cover and attached to the cover was a small golden lock with a tiny key.
Of course, to prevent everybody from reading the diary, the lock was unnecessary and easy to break into. (This happened at one of the ski weeks in school, when the class bully stole my diary, broke the lock, and read the pages loud in front of the class.)
All this didn’t prevent me from continuing to write down my deepest thoughts.
Over the years, I used many notebooks to fill my thoughts: regular notebooks and special books.
In the early 90s, I became a huge fan of Ernest Hemingway's writings. I read that he used to carry a Moleskine notebook to write down his observations. I started looking for one and learned they are out of production.
A couple of years later, I learned that a company has picked up producing them again, and immediately I got myself a Moleskine notebook. From 2000 through to 2014, I carried several with me all the time.
And used it to take notes, make observations, write down my feelings, write what I learned, and jot down my thoughts.
In the evening, when I sat in a bar having dinner and a few drinks, sometimes people came over and asked:
“What are you writing? Are you a writer?”
“No,” I said. “I take notes. I am no writer.”
In 2014, the smartphones improved in quality. Also, the iPad got the first external keyboards that I was aware of. Since I carried both with me most of the time, I started journaling on the iPad and iPhone.
I really love that the notes are synchronized via the cloud and are available on all devices. Even when I replace one, my notes are automatically transferred and available everywhere.
Am I worried about security? Hell, no. I already had the class bully reading my most intimate thoughts about a girl I had feelings for to the entire class.
Today I am using an iPad Pro and sit down every evening to write down my notes — handwritten. During the day, I type thoughts into my iPhone’s built-in notebook and read them when journaling.
I am a born Catholic, Buddhist by choice, and a member of the Chinese Shaolin sect. It is not a contradiction, as I truly believe that Jesus' teachings have their roots in Buddhism.
Thus, my ways of living were heavily influenced by the new testament and Buddhist teachings. It shaped my life’s philosophy and also influenced the way I journal.
Matthew McConaughey stressed journaling in his book and interviews and I believe it is important as well. If you want to journal also, these are the building blocks of my journaling when I sit down every evening:
3 things I am proud of
This is a Buddhist gratitude thing. Buddhists believe that being grateful contributes to overall happiness. Meanwhile, more and more studies have proven this point. This Forbes article describes a few and when you ask Dr. Google, he will show you even more evidence.
Gratitude is great. I often say that when I write down what I am grateful for, I reflect upon things that happened to me, like “I am grateful for being born in Austria during a peaceful time.”
Yes, that is a great thing, but beyond my control. Like in the serenity prayer, I want to focus on actions I can control.
That’s why I am putting notes down on what I did on a particular day, and I am happy and grateful for it. A blunt example:
“Today, person XYZ started an argument with me. I listened and just said, ‘Thanks for the info. You are right. I will think about it instead of following my impulse to continue with the argument.’ It wouldn’t have led anywhere, as I rarely meet this person.”
3 things I want to change
Success is one side of the medal. Having an honest conversation about the events I messed up and what I want to do differently is another exercise.
The thing is I need to dig deep into my own feelings and emotions, putting aside all impulses to blame it on the world, Covid, politics, or any other events beyond my control.
Especially focusing on actions I can take to make things better in my life.
For instance, I sometimes consider not having money. Instead of ranting about how unfair life is, I simply write down:
- I realized that I do not have enough money to finance my next goal.
- Tomorrow I need to sit down for an hour and find a better-paid job or
- I need to start a side-hustle.
3 tasks for tomorrow
Usually, when I sit down in the evening, I am calm and relaxed. The world is falling asleep, and the troubles of the day are gone. It is when I have clarity about my goals and what I want to do to achieve them.
Once I read somewhere that the things you think about before falling asleep are resolved during the night by the subconscious mind. I like that.
I realized from my own experience that the 3 tasks I wrote down in the evening before falling asleep are very clear to me when I set up the task list the next morning.
And most of the time, these are the 3 tasks that definitely get checked off the list as completed.
Journaling has served me well all the years in good times and bad times. Yet, I didn’t have any mind-blowing or transcending experience with journaling.
I believe it helps to gain clarity about who I am, my life, and my goals.
Here is a challenge for you:
- If you have not done journaling, try it for 21 days.
- Use the 3x3 method
If it is useful to you, keep it. If not, screw it.
Since 1999 I have been an executive, advisor, and coach for companies in various industries. I am specialized in Corporate Development and Finance. From seed rounds to IPO level. I have been focused on life science since 2006.
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