Things learned in life's journey
From a video from Video Advice and Matthew McConaughey
Matthew McConaughey is an award-winning actor, philanthropist. He and his wife, Camilla, co-founded 'The just keep livin Foundation' with the mission to empower disadvantaged high school students by providing them with the tools to lead active lives and make healthy choices for a better future. They currently serve more than 3,000 students from disadvantaged backgrounds in 45 programs in 19 US cities.
He has recorded a motivational video:
I'm going to talk to you about some things that 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 entitlement trap - feeling like you're a victim. You are not. Get over it and get on with it
The question that we have 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, a happy marriage, helping others to be famous, being spiritually sound, leaving the world a little bit better place than you found it.
Continue to ask yourself that question, "What success is to you?". Your answer may change over time and that's fine but do yourself this favour - whatever your answer is, don't choose anything that will jeopardize yourself.
Prioritize who you are, who you want to be. 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. Make that daily tally. Tend to our garden. Keep the things that are important to us in good shape.
Where you are not, is as important as where you are. Look the first step that leads to our identity in life Is usually not, "I know who I am." The first step is usually. "I know who I am not." There's a process of elimination. Defining ourselves by what we are not, is the first step that leads us to really knowing who we are.
You know that group of friends that you hang out with? That really might not bring out the best in you? Or how about that bar that we keep going to, that we always seem to have the worst hangover from? Or that computer screen that keeps giving us an excuse not to get out of the house and engage with the world and get some real human interaction. Or how about that food that would keep eating? We feel lethargic, we keep putting on weight. Well, those people, those places, those things, stop giving them your time and energy. Just don't go there - put them down.
When 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've just eliminated the Whos, the Wheres, the Whats and the Whens that were keeping you from your identity. I promise that too many options will make a tyrant of us all. So get rid of the excess, the wasted time. Decrease your options. If you do this, you will have put in front of you what is important, by process of elimination.
Knowing who we are is hard. Give yourself a break. Eliminate who you are not first and you'll find yourself where you need to be. Instead of creating outcomes that take from you, let's create more outcomes that keep your fire lit, turn you on, for the most amount of time in your future.
We try our best but we don't always do our best. 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, guess what happens? We get better at them. Be discerning - choose it because you want it do it.
We're going to make mistakes. You've got to own them Then you got to make amends and then move on - guilt and regret kills many a man before their time. So turn the page.
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From a video from Video Advice and Matthew McConau, 29/07/2026