Habits and Hustle - Episode 98: Matthew McConaughey – Renowned Actor, Producer, Author of Greenlights

Episode Date: January 12, 2021

Matthew McConaughey is an Actor, Producer, and Author. That’s right, author Matthew McConaughey. In this episode, he and Jen discuss his book Greenlights and delve into his own personal outlooks and strategies throughout his life. From making a list of goals in 1992 that he forgot about and found later in life only to discover he accomplished them all to traveling to Africa in pursuit of a recurring dream and wrestling a huge villager name Michelle, McConaughey brings us through the strength of his resolve, his faith, his family, and his journey to work on the path to your own success. Maybe you only know him as an actor. Maybe you’ve seen interviews or his famous Oscar Winner speech about chasing himself down 10 years later, or maybe you somehow don’t know him at all. Whether or not that’s the case his stories and nuggets of wisdom are something anyone can find value in to “just keep livin.” Youtube Link to This Episode Matthew’s Instagram Matthew’s Book ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Did you learn something from tuning in today? Please pay it forward and write us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. 📧If you have feedback for the show, please email [e-mail]  📙Get yourself a copy of Jennifer Cohen’s newest book from Habit Nest, Badass Body Goals Journal. ℹ️Habits & Hustle Website 📚Habit Nest Website 📱Follow Jennifer – Instagram – Facebook – Twitter – Jennifer’s Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vitamin Water Zero Sugar just dropped in all new taste. It was zero holding back on flavor. You can be your all feeling. I'll play and all self-care you. Grab the all new taste today. Vitamin Water Zero Sugar, nourish every you. Vitamin Water is a registered trademark of glass O. Hey, it's Jesse Kelly.

Ronald Reagan famously once said that nine most terrifying words in the English language are, I'm from the government and I'm here to help. Americans are losing faith in the banking system and at the same time the US government could soon be headed toward a centralized banking system. How scary is that? How do you protect yourself as the government gets more involved in your life? For me, owning gold is one way. Having gold that I can see and touch makes me feel protected. Having a portion of your retirement in precious metals is another way to feel protected. I don't own crypto, I don't own NFTs, and I don't buy meme stocks, I don't invest in things I don't understand. If you are like me and want to feel safe

It's time to call my friends at the Oxford Gold Group. Go to www.oxfordgoldgroup.com to learn more. Again, that's www.oxfordgoldgroup.com First of all, I want to say thank you very much for being on the podcast. I'm sure you've been doing a ton of media for your book and getting asked the same questions over and over again can be kind of monotonous. So I do appreciate you humoring me and my audience one more time. I have to be honest. I am enjoying it. You know, I go off and I sell movies, I'm in, I solicit them, and share them. But this one's the true extension of me. So I'm like, I don't have to prepare for it.

I wrote the damn thing. I don't have to prepare for our talk. I'm like, I wrote it. I've lived it so I can talk about it. And actually, over the six, seven weeks of going around sharing it to hear how it's translating Originally to different people and specifically Feels awesome. I mean feels great when it when it does when I'm when people do share something specific about translated and I don't know so I'm having I'm having to come I'm also crystallizing some ideas

You need to talk about something that you work on your ideas begin to evolve and you crystallize them And I'm having a good time. I'm also crystallizing some ideas. You need to talk about something that you work on. Your ideas begin to evolve and you crystallize them and you say, oh, it kind of starts to lend to maybe what's next. And you kind of make sort of social contacts with yourself and others by the what, how you answer something or what you say.

And afterwards, I'll write something down and go, yeah. Okay, that's another way to put that. Remember that, keep that in your pocket. Or you know, I mean, check me out later. I just let you know that. So if I get out of line later, you and life can go, Hey, I remember what you said to me in that podcast, you know, absolutely. It's good practice basically for, I guess, like your next 10 years. I remember your speech a long time, well, your speech that went viral, right, about changing every 10 years, right? Like you, you kind of, you chased your future

self. Like, did you know 10 years ago that you're going to be writing a book now, and that was kind of what your path was going to be at the storyteller or? I didn't. No, I, I, I, I, I, I didn't. You know, when I look at things that I've placed in my life, in the ones where I've succeeded, it's been a mix of writing the headline first, projecting it out there in front of me, the goalposts, and then trying to live the story toward it. Or it's been an equal mix of jumping in and going out, I'll figure it out along the

way. You know what I mean? There is no headline, but I'm going this direction. You know, let me pick out this general direction. And so the book in the back of my mind probably was something I didn't have a plan. Hey, and ten years you'll write a book, but the book was something that you even I found in my diaries in 1992. I said, you're going book, but the book was something that you'd even have found in my diaries in 1992. I said, I want to write a book. I never thought about writing a book again, and already got me moving in that direction of how you might have something that's worth sharing between the hardback cover one day. So it was a general direction that I probably, I was considered decades ago, but I had no sort of demarcation of,

oh, when you turn 50, that'll be the time to do it now. I can't believe you're 50. You still look like you're like 25. 51. I can't. I can't believe your face looks like it's still 25 years old. You do not, you're like Benjamin Button. You're like aging in the wrong way.

You know, yeah, I tell you a funny story. And in the book, I tell the story about when I was losing my hair in the late 90s. Yeah. And so this is all, it is my real hair. But I do used to have a silver dollar baldness here. And I didn't have any of this. And I started using this topical product, Rubin, and Dan of my hair didn't come back. Well, I was using a propitia to help retain hair growth

and I could go to this hair doctor to go get that. And this guy actually does hair implants and he goes, yeah. He always wanted to meet you, Matt, you McConaughey, I said, why? He goes, well, every year we go to this international convention of hair transplanters, the greatest hair transplanter around the world.

And we always bring your picture up on screen and go, and the moderator goes, and who did Matthew Krona's hair transplant? Yeah. And every year, no one raises their hand. I go, of course, they don't raise their hand because I've never had hair transplant. And he goes, yeah, but last year,

one of my, this guy who does hair transplant and like, Sweden somewhere, we brought your picture up again at the International Convention and he goes, who did? And he goes, this was me. And he goes, so I'm all you want to meet you, because now I got a check, I go, look, and he goes, you don't have any hair transplant.

He goes, I'm bustin' this guy's balls in the next year. Remember that we raised it, and he goes, you didn't do that, because he goes, this guy's gotten a lot of work since he raised his hand, and said, he did your hair. So no, but you know what, so funny. Okay, I have to tell you a funny story, okay? Because there's a bunch at live in LA, like where I know you don't live here anymore,

and all these guys, okay, are, you know, walk around and say, oh, I'm going to Matthew McConaughey's hair transplant doctor. There's a bunch of these doctors in Beverly Hills who are like touting themselves also as your doctor. So I assumed that you had hair transplants. I don't know. This is all mine. It's always been mine. Somehow I brought it back and the product I used didn't really work as well for other people that use it but damn it worked on mine. And I still use it today because I'm not quitting to see if I don't need to do it anymore.

I'm like, no, I'm talking about a habit. My habit, I still, daily, topically rub this stuff in my hair because I'm not gonna quit and see if I don't need to anymore. No way, that is so crazy because like for years now, that's what I just assumed that that was what you did to kind of keep your hair looking so, you know, useful and young and full

I look I would I trust me. I considered it, but I never had to do it never did it Didn't have my gosh You're lucky. I mean, you know it's true Like I kind of feel like even reading your book. That's like another like you kind of have like I don't know and I'm not saying like your life is just all luck. If I don't believe in luck, like at all, as only one thing, but you have had a lot of good, good luck or you've made yourself good luck. You know what I mean? Like there's a combination, right?

Of your work ethic, conviction, but I feel like even like as a young guy, you kind of always have like a kind of a strong conviction of who you were and Kind of like a self-awareness about you that went really well with having an opportunity and making into something I think so and you're right look I you know we can look back at our life now and Everything from two seconds ago back back to the day we were born, we can do the math, can add it up. All those things were at the time we're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe this opportunity fell in my lab.

If we did something with it, it all makes sense. It's a science now in the rearview mirror. If we didn't do something with it, it's no longer a part of our lineage of our story because we did something else that got us here. But we're looking at the rearview mirror, it's no longer a part of our lineage of our story because we did something else that got us here. But right, you know, we look in the river you may hear it's all science. I think that, look, have I been at the right place at the right time? Sure. Have I, am I opportunistic? Have I looked for, put myself in position to look for possible opportunities and then saw a gap and gone?

Bam. I'm going gonna try it. Yes. Yeah, and at the same time, let me say this is a way to put it. I have a in the book at the end of the book, I added this list of goals. 10 goals. I wrote 19. 19. 19, night. This is it. I have it. Little yellow page here. Cause I wanted to ask you about that. And I found those when I was writing the book. And I looked at them and I was like, you pulled these off or are in the midst of pulling them off now, all of them. I never looked at that list again

after I wrote it. I forgot I wrote it, but obviously I didn't forget I wrote it. You know what I mean? I remember when I was on the top bunk in my fraternity house at University of Texas one night at about 1030 before I'd gone to bed and I wrote that down. And it was like three weeks after my first acting experience, today's confused. And my father just passed away. So two very similar things. I just started what ended up becoming a career,

my passion for my vocation. And I just lost the most important person in my life, most important, my father. So one thing was being birthed and one thing You know the most important person in my life most important my father so I was you know One thing was being birthed and one thing or I just moved on and That's gonna be a very grounding the fact when you lose something That obviously led me and helped me become

Or challenge myself become the man I want to be but also starting something that at that time I didn't know maybe that was a one-off hobby acting. Maybe that was that summer of 92 all it was going to do but then subconsciously though obviously I was like no this is it for me this is what I want to do but I didn't say it to anybody I said it to my diary I said it to my journal I said it myself, but I couldn't even dream about it. That was too conscious. I couldn't tell a friend, I couldn't tell a parent, I couldn't tell my best friend that I wanted to maybe go really be an actor.

It was not because I was afraid of popping the magic bubble that when you say something, actually it takes away the magic, but because of, oh, and the loop, don't say it out loud, you can't, that's not gonna happen. That's like too avant- can't, that's not gonna happen. That's like two of a guard, that's two. Right, you know, that's just two of a bunch of,

woohoo, got to weaken, that's a Saturday thing, not a real life, you know, so, Right, we sleep in somewhere in me. That is what I wanted to do. Obviously, all the things that I wrote down there were a good list because I didn't intellectually make them up. They're obviously in my lineage and in my heart and spirit more than I thought

because I never looked at the list again and I look up 20, 30, something years later and go like, geez, you've done these, but you never looked at the list. I think. It's amazing. That's, I had like a yellow sticky note because I couldn't believe when I read your book that your

goals in life at 50, you've actually accomplished all of them. Now, what I didn't really understand was I think number five, which was the, what was it, to be an egotistical utilitarian or something like that. Not that one. I still love that one. Let me unpack that for you. Because I'm involved, I've redefined that into really what is my biggest ambition right now as far as a theory for living and choice making, which is we life make a contradiction

out of the selfish choice and the selfless choice. We make a contradiction out of, well, what the selfless choice. We make a contradiction out of, well, what's best for me and what's best for the most amount of people. We make a contradiction out of responsibility and freedom. And there's many contradictions we make, but I believe that the plate, there's a place where they're not contradictions, where they're a paradox, where the best choice for me could be the best decision choice for the best decision best choice for me could be the best decision best decision choice for we best decision for you could be the best choice for the most amount of people the most self-fist choice is actually the most self less choice Most self less choice is actually the most self-fist choice the most responsible choice is the one that gives you the most freedom

the most real freedom is When you're responsible, is for being responsible for it. So, the egotistical utilitarian is the, that was where the eye meets the way. I wanna be the one where the best, the self is choice for me, is actually what's best for the most amount of people.

And I'd written papers about it. And that was back in 92. I'd written a paper 91 about a character. John Wayne goes left, I think, with the title of about a character that went to Hollywood and was able to maintain his faith amongst the science, his faith amongst fame. It's why I did contact the movie.

I wanted to play a person of faith in the world of science because I've always believed those two weren't contradictions. That science is the practical pursuit of God and that the two can coexist. So I've always been working on these sort of paradoxes, believing that two things don't necessarily contradict and that's why I called it the egotistical utilitarian. Oh, okay, gotcha.

Cause I was like reading that. I was like, I have to ask him just because curiosity. It was like, it didn't really, I didn't really gel for me. So I thought I had to ask My definition yeah, and I'm absolutely pack that I really think that's still The place and evolved move and if you if I if we look back at the most evolved people I think that's what they do Yeah, you know certain profits if that's where that's where they where they were, that's the frequency they were on.

And I would argue this, and I'm on my pastor says I'm pushing a big rock uphill and trying to redefine selfishness, but I'm a big corner being selfish. What I mean by this is I got to ask You know, your father, you have a daughter, you feel, what can you do to create a world with your daughter for gender equality? Has more opportunity later in life. I'm like, yeah, I say, well, no one does anything unless it's personal, but I do think everything's personal. And so if I'm in position of power, I want to protect my power. All right? Sure.

And I want to, you know, remain in some extent of power. But what's more selfless choice to hold on to that at the exclusion of opening up more equal opportunity for, say, my daughter in the future or women today? Or even we talk about this with race as well. What's more selflessice to open up more opportunity for my daughter in the future, or to hoard my power,

and her not to have opportunity later? What's actually more selfish, for me to make some either sacrifice, or to make a choice that's gonna open up place for more equal opportunity for her, she's my daughter. What's the more selfish choice for me? The lied cheating steal from you? Now?

So when I go in the future, I gotta look over my shoulder to hope you're not in the room because I'm gonna gotta run from you if I see you. Yeah. I can't help us to not lie cheating steal from you. So when I see you, I don't have to run. I don't have to look for the exit. I don't have to look over my shoulder. I don't have to look up my shoulder

when I find out you're in the room because I burned our bridge or picked your pocket. Because much more selfish for me, I'm buying more freedom in my future by not doing that, by not doing the light cheating steal you. I'm having a great stress in my future. I'm moving forward without having a bunch of red lights

behind me and fires that I gotta put out. I'm moving forward without having a bunch of red lights behind me and fires that I got to put out. I'm not purchasing my time stealing from my freedom in the future. I would say it's more selfish not to lie cheap and still from you. If you have a sense of delayed gratification, which I think we all need to work on that a little bit more and understand, have a little bit longer view. You know, I'm so glad that you said that. I think, especially in today's time, I think everything is about instant gratification, especially with social media and what everything is about the now.

And what I really, really liked about when your book, when you talked about the power of no, and how you went with almost two years without a job, really, in like the business, because you were really kind of strong and convicted on not doing a romantic comedy anymore and rebranding yourself and you took that and your delayed gratification really worked out for you. Can we talk? I really want to talk about that because I think it's very

hard for people to really understand that because they, if they, how do people turn, forget about turning down what, $14 million for a movie? I mean, most people can't even turn down like $14 because they get anxious, right? Yeah, and look on a, forgetting the dollar amount, $14 million, $14.14, for getting the economy of a socioeconomic situation. What we can do at any level, what we have more opportunities to do, and maybe a way to phrase it, where more people can understand it, contextualize it, person for their own life, is that which account, again, it's a bit of the egotistical utilitarian,

we don't need to fill our bank account. We don't wanna be in the debit in our bank account. Well, we need to fill our souls account. We don't wanna be in the debit in our souls account either. There's two accounts that are not mutually exclusive, that don't need to be a contradiction. So, or fear, it's fear too. Sure, it's fear, it's the unknown, it's the,

I mean, limbo. That sucks. Give me, and I give me a no, or yes, at least then I'll know, and I can deal with the no, but the, I don't know, maybe time is like, what the hell? We're all in limbo now, in COVID. It and COVID. Exactly. We're sprinting to the extremes because we need purpose and I did it. Give me something to hang on to. And now we're looking up going like, I got fires or more. So I thought

I really was going to like hanging out over here. Totally. But there is fear to go. I'm gonna be a limba. You know, that choice that I made when I took off for what ended up being about two years, it was a one way ticket into I'm not working in Hollywood. I didn't have a return ticket. I did not know.

So mind you, I wrote about the book, I had things to keep my... The reason I made it is because the work I was doing was not feeding myself. I felt like I... And I had no crisis of confidence thinking that, oh, I can do the work I want to do. But I was sobbing enough to be aware that, but I completely understand the powers that be, that make the movies I want to do, do not want me. I have no demand to be in that category doing dramas. There's no demand by the general public, or finances and studios in Hollywood.

Well, I really want to do that. Well, all right, I'm going to stop doing what I was doing, even though I can't do what it is I want to do. Well, that's my one way to take it out. And trust me, I had over that two years, times where I was like, I think I've pretty much been forgotten in Hollywood. I better show, think about another career. I'm going to be a job.

Maybe I'm going to be a back and try to be an lawyer, maybe a wild life expedition tour guide or an orchestral conductor, I don't know. Now mind you, I had things that kept me grounded at that time, a newborn son. Whew, my wife, Camille, I'm, and I write about, and look, she's like, you're gonna get wobbly, because I'm a big accomplisher.

I like, I need to accomplish my own significance. And I'm out there waking up and every day is a Saturday and we know what happens when every day is a Saturday. Woo-hoo. A hundred percent, like rinse and repeat, like what the groundhog's day every day. And that's not, you know, too many Saturdays can make a tire in a video.

Yes. I agree. I'm there and then I'll, that drink you, You usually have it six. I just look better at five. I look better at four. Then it looks better at three. And I'll say, wait a minute. Exactly. You're drinking at 10 a.m.

Exactly. So I had those things to keep my compass down. But I was never even, if after 20 months, the work that did come to me, even if that hadn't come to me. I wouldn't go back. I knew it was very similar to, very similar to the year in Australia story. There's something at a hunch, subconscious that look with every, and I started to actually gain power with it. Like confidence and almost honor of each day that I was, I was a disdaining again, but I was like going gain power with it, like confidence and almost honor of each day that I was, I was, I was sustaining again, but I was like going, yeah, yeah, I'm, you're going deep, okay?

And it started to feel like there was more value in the endurance of the abstinence and the endurance of the same no, of the endurance of the limbo, of the one way ticket that I'm not going back. And started to gain sort of of get an identity in that, that the longer this goes, the more valuable it will be, almost. Right? Is that kind of like when you did the Dallas Buyers Club

and you lost all that weight, like the more weight you lost, the more you know, skinny you got, it was like kind of like, I can keep on going. You had that same kind of conviction or okayness with abstinence. How was it? That's similar, but that was much easier because. Easier?

Yeah, it was easier because that was not a one way ticket. I mean, that was not a one way ticket, but that was still like having the mindset of, I'm gonna be okay, I can do this. Like you always have the confidence to kind of set your mind to something and then stick to it and then actually like, make a plan and then work the plan.

Well, the thing was like that losing that way, that's probably that when I was in the way that I'm saying it wasn't a one way ticket and the way that it did have returned to it. The return ticket was, that's what I needed to do my job. That was my responsibility to the character I was playing. If I did not do that,

then I would have been irresponsible to my character. You would have opened up the movie, and Ron Woodruff, who has stayed for HIV, looks like me and you're going, oh, bullshit, I ain't buying it, I'm out of the mood. So that means I didn't do my job. I'm embarrassed. I don't like the feeling of I didn't do good job. I'm not going to get. So it had it had it had residuals in the choice. Yes. One based on just responsibility to my man, the character Ron Woodruff. And but the deal

I did get start to get honor in the endurance of it but the deal, I did get, start to get, honor in the endurance of it. Like, I did, it took five months to lose the weight. Now, as you probably know, what's the hardest part? The, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, It's kind of going to do it. So once I clicked, it was like, this is what I'm doing. Now mind you, the version that there was a only one way ticket is the movie wasn't real. We didn't have the money to get the movie made. I saw that. I saw that. Well, that way, while I'm going, we're making it in October. Am I agent behind closed doors going, you don't have the money for that.

I'm gonna keep saying you're making that movie. There's not, there's nobody's finance. There's no movie. I'm like, yes, there is. And you're losing this weight. But then I also started to recognize the asset of the fact that I was losing weight while people were saying the movie's not real, but they keep saying they're doing it.

And suddenly, some of these people started going like, but look at you. You're down to 160 now. You've lost 30 feet. Maybe it is real. It's not the illusion of like, well, maybe they aren't doing it. I mean, look at him. He's losing the weight. It's getting down. Are they doing that movie in the fall? I mean, they gotta be. Look at it. One paper, no they're not. But it seems they are.

And myself, the director of the producers, nobody flinched. We just, both of them said, we're doing it. And then we can see the money. And we're like, we'll be there on set that day. You know, we just didn't, in some ways. I guess they are doing it. What's my name's that thing? Keep coming back you got plenty of space. Oof, not how you would have done that. You like working with people you can rely on.

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I mean, yeah, I was gonna say, what would happen if no one did? Like, at the last minute, gave you $4.9 million, but I mean, it was very close. Like, you were actually going to be, it was gonna be October or whatever in the fall, and you were already lost the weight. I mean, that's what I'm saying.

You have like, there's like a stroke or streak of luckiness in there as well, but there's also another quality. I think it's just like when you believe it's so hard you actually end up achieving it and it's a mindset. For sure and look and I come I've did recently did my whole family lineage in the ancestry.com and I guess I was not surprised to find out there was no royalty, but there was a whole lot of riverboat That's funny Yeah, so I mean part of it was

Look I'll say this And this leads back to an earlier tool that I talk about in the book about when faced with the inevitable get relative I just sometimes we can it's about doing a trick in our mind and going, no, I'm doing this. And knowing also compartmentalizing going, I know this really might not happen between you and me and you're only talking to yourself. But you know what I'm done? Let's find out.

At least we're going to know. It's like taking I can let's find out. At least we're gonna know. It's like taking up that wrestling match in Africa. When Michelle, that wrestler said, you me in the pit, my heart breaks, totally going, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, and I'm sitting there going, no way, now as I'm saying, way in this year, I'm hearing, if you don't,

you regret never knowing what happened and I'm getting up. And all of a sudden, I'm hearing if you don't you regret never knowing what happened and I'm getting up and all of a sudden I'm standing up in front of him and I didn't consciously tell myself to get up. It just happened because this year overtook this year and a little angel all around the devil the devil was saying hey, stay down, don't do it. The angel was going find out, find out or you will regret it. Yes.

So I got up and point to him and walked to the pit and go have incredible wrestling match that ends up being a lineage of a part of my life and a story that wasn't only a wrestling match. It was a great moral of a story where I learned it wasn't even about who won and lost the match. It was about when I accepted the challenges, when I became a big man in that tribe.

And the person that I wrestled, that I handled, walked me silently 15 miles, holding my hand the next day to the next village. And then I returned five years later, and the same guy walked me the same 15 miles. That beautiful, because, all because, when he challenged me to a match I heard this year go don't you dare and this year go you kidding me find out and

Got up But wouldn't got up none of those stories that what have happened No, those beautiful stories that I that I learned was able to live through and with is what have happened I mean, I remember that I was like like, when I was reading that part, I was like, oh my, I was scared for you, right? Because you were, I guess you could see you were a boxer. So the guy thought you were a fighter, the guy was a wrestler.

But like, I feel like you're in life, though. You've had so many amazing, interesting experiences. Like things that I, I mean, I didn't, I don't know you from a home in the ground, right? But when I read, when I was reading your book, you know, I didn't know what to expect. I thought, yeah, I'd be entertaining, but I didn't realize how much wisdom there were in life experiences and that you were, you were, you kind of, there's, there's a lot of truisms, I feel, in the book, like, you know, basically going uphill. And in your book, all the themes, like what you've taken and what you've kind of like, you basically,

like, took that experience. And you basically were able to bring it down to like a place or a philosophy that I think is very relatable for people, even if you're not view. That, I mean, that, thank you. I'm glad that's, I hope it translates, you know, like that. And I love deconstructing an experience, a time, a story, from a summary down to what's its initial, a truism,

an aphorism, a bumper sticker. A bumper sticker, yeah. You go, oh, that's a plot of, well, I don't know, whatever, but here's what here's, and it's what I mean by just keep living. Okay, there's no G on the end of living, of living because life's a verb. Well, that's intentional. You can unpack that. You can write a story about what that means.

What do you mean? There's no G on the end of living. Just keep living your life's a verb. Well, you can, you can write a book on life being a verb, and not a noun, or an adjective, or an adverb. There's a book there to unpack. So I love deciphering something down to a one line because what I love about a truism

is it doesn't tell you what to do. Nobody likes to be told what to do. I don't like to be told what to do to do. Nobody likes to be told what to do. I don't like to be paid for to do. You don't like to be told what to do. But if I can pack it and then summarize it in a one line that you go, well, it kind of sounds lyrical too. And geez, maybe I like the way McConaughey says it on his audible book. Sounds kind of music. It sounds fun. He's kind of broccoli that tastes good and is good for him. And I can make it, each person can go, I can make it my own. He's not saying, I've got to have the exact, I'm not giving you an outcome. I'm not telling you what to do.

I'm saying, here's a story I live through and here's how I saw it. And I'm finding that people are going, oh, I got to read that story and it reminded me of this time in my life. And maybe I looked at it similar way you did. Maybe I looked at it different and it worked or it didn't work. Or maybe next time in that situation, I'm going to try and look at how you looked at it. But it gives ownership. And I was hoping, I was my hope in writing the book is that it's a way that can be subjectively

taken by any reader. And you have ownership of it. I could unpack the phrase, just keep living. There's a just keep, yeah, I'm always for all of us everywhere. But none of mine are gonna be the same as yours. And none of yours are gonna be the same as mine. You have different contexts.

You have different things going on your life than I do. So all those variables go into that decision, but you can still base going, I'm gonna make the just keep living decision. And if you look at it, there's gonna be, you're gonna, the best Jusky Blibbing Decision, so to speak, is gonna all yours and mine are gonna fall in the same category.

I'm going, yep, that was, I'm gonna look at yours and go, yep, that was one. You're gonna look at mine and go, yep, those were one. They weren't mine, yours weren't mine, mine weren't yours, but a truism gives an ownership. The person reading it can go, ah, how can I apply that specifically subjectively to my life? This isn't a kind of telling me what to do.

It's not telling me if, then, you better do this. No, that's boring. We all want to be part. We all want to be the author and our own adventure. And if we can have cool things that we can measure, guide post, that we can kind of go, ah, yeah, that look at it that way, ah, that look at it that way,

then we're still a pilot, each of us individually. Well, yeah, also, you could have actually named the book, Just Keep Living. Don't you have a company called Just Keep Living, too? I could just keep living on everything. I have it. What? Doesn't, too? I put Just Keep Living on everything. I have it on. What? It doesn't fit. I mean, it's been on everything.

That's what I'm saying. You know. It's a great slogan. It's a great bumper sticker. And I think people can really rest. Everyone can resonate with it. It's very relatable. So why didn't you call the book Just Keep Living?

Why did you call it Greenlight? Well, Green lights is a Sort of even a deconstruction of just keep living plus I love the The the metaphor and the analogy the the the the symbol of Traffic lights and life and this highway that we're on whether it's a a river or a road, these are highways and their veins that cut through. We all have our own singular path that we're on. We hit red lights, we hit yellow lights, we hit green lights, and we love the green lights

because we just proceed easy street, summertime, no shoes, here we go. We don't like to yell on the reds that make make us slow down and make us stop. Dang it. Why'd you get in my way? Why'd you interrupt me? Why'd you intervene? Why do we have to sit down and talk about this thing? Can't we just keep rolling? Oh, why I got to think about this Damn it. I don't like it when I got to think about it. I like when I can just do well, those are actually Lead to the evolution of the green lights. There's value in those. That's how we evolve in the yellow and red lights. That's where we take that time

to have some introspection. My mom, one of our greatest traits is resilience. My mom is a you step in the pothole, fall down, you get up, dust yourself off, go. Great, great, great, great. I wish more people had more of it. I wish I had more of it. What I did learn about that though,

and I brought this up to her about 10 years ago, I was like, mom, and it was in a conversation we were having about the Golden Rule, doing the others you would have and doing the yours. There's a loophole, mom, in the Golden Rule, it's because what? I go, the Golden Rule says doing the others

you would have them doing the yours. I said, but not everybody wants to do what you want to do. Yeah. Yeah. And I said, this is the only thing. This thing you taught us that like every day, I don't care if it's 10 degrees below zero and it's raining and sleeting, it's summertime.

And you better be summertime in your mind. You go forward, you don't take a forced twin or don't do introspection. Just get up and dust yourself off when you step to the pot. I said, the problem with that mom mom, is that I find myself being a repeat offender. I keep, I'm bottom. Exactly. And I said, I think sometimes we need to stop and go, well, wait a minute. Instead of dusting myself off and moving on real quickly, staying in this race, running the circus, I I'm gonna stop and look back at that damn pot over a second,

go, well, how do I keep stepping in that? What is it? Well, once I measure that, the next time around, maybe I got behind in the race, maybe that yellow light of that red light of me pausing, let other people pass me in the race. But now, the next time I get to the pothole, I'm side stepping in, or jumping over it,

or finding another path around the side. So now my journey has evolved because I slowed down to have a look at what I where I'd stepped in the proverbial pothole or proverbial step-to-ship. And so, and I, you know, that's the value of, that's what I mean when I say a yellow and red in the rearview mirror, like actually turns green. And we need those things. We have a lesson to learn in those things. And so that's where I was able to, that's a subset under just keep living.

Green lights would be a subset of way to define what I mean by just keep living. But could be called just keep living. It's signed out, just keep living on the back. Yeah, exactly. But I mean, that was a little more of a way that I think, just keep living is large. We could, I mean, everybody can go, okay,

but what's that about? Green night would be more of a subset, a branch off the trunk of just keep living and say, well, here's a certain approach that maybe is more tangible, a more tangible way to understand how to Jeske blivin' for each of us. I get that. I also love you.

I wanted to ask you about your mom. I'm glad you brought her up because she seems like such a character. I mean, and your relationship with her and your family. I mean, it's funny. You can go either way, right? Like a lot of people could be, go to therapy because of what happened with the first, I think one of the scenes or one of the first fights

that your parents had in the book. I mean, honestly, I would be like in trauma or for the rest of my life, but you have a way of taking it and there's such love and compassion and humanity into your relationship with your family and I feel like can you explain how your relationship with your family or your the way you grew up kind of helped you become who like kind of create your character? Look my mom and dad lived hard. They loved hard. Look, my mom and dad lived hard. They loved hard.

Hands that hurt with the hands that healed. Divorce twice, married three times. I love it. Can't live with you, can't live without you. And as soon as they get remarried, they were automatically, weren't talking about why they got divorced. They were so quickly we're going,

damn, I love a new honeymoon. When you have never been a family, that's part of that resilience. My mom and dad were repeat offenders. Yes. And I applaud them. You know, I mean, we didn't, you know, and it's true, what tickles, and I have to watch this, especially in position I'm in, where a lot of my words come out in bold print, and I can say things to some people that it may come across, like I'm talking to a megaphone, even if I'm not. And I have to realize contextually that what tickles my family, bruises a lot of other people. You know, where we're giggling, other people are crying. We're going,

what? And we don't mean it. We're not being malicious. We're just like, come on. No, no, no, no, get over there. Our family, all of us, we, someone comes in in a high horse and our family, our family will, one of our family members comes in on a high horse or gets out of line. Our family immediately bam, grounds them. I mean, takes you down until you're crying, Uncle Donald. I'm sorry, I quit. I didn't mean that get it and you do that they pick you up so hard and full that your feet come off the ground and you land and there they are handing you your your favorite drink and they're giving you a hug and they're crying with you going there we go love you never quit loving you

Hey, I didn't you know I was raising that and I love you. I just don't like you right now So we had times of dislike My mom and dad, two divorces, were not liking each other. They never could love that each other. Those fights that I would see them in. The love was never questioned. Even in my four year old eyes,

the love was never in question. And they, you almost, they would blow through yellow lights. And that's another sort of, I think, and unpacking how I've been asked, well, how did you see that? And not come away having to be in therapy. Yeah. When I go look, and a lot of times, and this is subjective to everybody, but for me, we come across a yellow light, which arguably is really kind of where the green light lives because you get to slow down and stop or press the gas and blow through it.

My family was very big on seeing a real yellow light and pressing the damn gas and going, I'm blowing through it. The value of that is there's a lot of crises that we just don't be credit. There's a lot of things that we do it all today. We create false drama for ourselves. And we go to it and all of a sudden we're wallowing in it and we're more wallowing in it and dwelling on it

We find ourselves in red light and warm Just to hook her down and hurt because we created a mountain out of a molehill or gave too much credit to a crisis that damn it That's just part of life roll roll with it turn the damn page man. That's like a that's not defining us and so finding us. And so a lot of times I think we need to blow through, put the pedal to the metal, blow through some of those yellow lights. Not, you know, and not always. As I said earlier, you got to stop and look at the pothole. You got to stop sometimes to go, wait, why do I keep stepping in that? Why am I a repeated fender? You don't blow through all the yellow lights because some of the yellow lights are meaning, you're there to slow you down and

make you go, yeah, I do need to stop at a red light here. I need to rearrange to evolve. But I think we get stuck many times by slowing down for yellow lights that we shouldn't get credit. And all of a sudden, we devolve. We don't evolve because we're wallowing in our red light, our yellow lights. We're slowing down some of your yellow lights, we're ending up wallowing in a bunch of red lights in life. They were going like, in the big picture, that was really not a big deal. Sometimes we sometimes blown through a yellow light, it's a rough forgiveness. Sometimes that's forgiving somebody or ourselves. That's a version of a pest in the put in the pedal to the metal and blown through a yellow light. It's moving on, it's turning the page, it's having some empathy for ourselves or or handling a situation or

Saying no and not working for two years, for aiding a yellow light or a red light for ourselves to go wait a minute My soul feels like it's going in the debit section. I don't like it in the credit section. And I can't go get my credit, but I can stop doing what's putting it in the debit. So I'm gonna take an impasse here and sit in neutral for a little while. You know, so there's different ways to do it. And look, I'll say this, a lot of times

pressing the gas hitting or pulling the yellow light is since of humor. Yes. I think that a situation, instead of taking it personally and going, okay, what the, you know, and moving on, you don't, and actually, and I don't know in any way mean deny crisis. That is not what I mean.

And sense of humor is often mistaken as something that denies the crisis. That is not what I mean. And since Pumer is all for mistaken as something that denies the crisis, when actually in reality, thinks it's a humor unties the knot of the crisis. Let's two people communicate or unties the knot between the contradiction. And then you see, oh, okay, I see the paradox now. Okay, actually this wasn't as big of a deal or we're going to handle it better. We can talk it out better. If we can both laugh, we can have a conversation without the condemnation. And it's a real good tool. It's an underused tool, under utilized tool, but I think we as individuals in society today, especially, could use more of. And again, it doesn't deny the crisis. It can actually help you deal with the crisis better and more

truth. I mean obviously you guys you have a very close relationship. I mean you left LA, Hollywood, whatever, to move back to Texas, right, to Austin. Is that why to be closer to your families? Because you also, like what is your, because you seem again very authentic and a real person. And to be in an environment like that, believe me, I see it all the time living here, is like, as you like to say, it's kind of like a contradiction kind of, but it seems to be like an antithesis to who you are. When you came here for the first time, or came to Hollywood,

you kind of always said, you know, you can't need it, you have to want it, but not need it. And I'm curious because people come here, there's boats and buses of people coming here by the droves, right, who are so desperate to want to do something. How do you change that mindset from, okay, you know what, I don't

need it, I just want it. Because that happens in anything in life. I feel if you are too desperate for something, it never seems to ever work anyway. Yeah, it's, well, it's touchy because if you tell someone and you understand what you just said, if you're too desperate for something, you're not gonna get it. But they don't have a real good work ethic. They don't have the work ethic, not be good for them, because they can go like, oh, well,

if it's number two on my list, then I won't bust my backside to do whatever I can to get it done if they don't have it. But somebody who has the want to and the will and the work ethic and the innate ability to maybe to do it will actually usually get more done if they do make that thing they want number two at the high slope and are not so desperate for it. It works not only careers relationships. I have a story in there about when I found Camila's when I quit looking for the one, you know, we do this. I mean, I remember before I met her, I was looking for the one at every damn traffic light

produce that. You never know. I'm not going to be possible. Is he potential? Maybe. You know what I mean? I was looking. I was leaning literally intruding into their space looking and going, what are you doing?

Sit back and take care of yourself. And that's when she showed up. But in the, in the, look family was a big one for me. As soon as I had, we had our first child leave I. The thing I always, only thing I ever knew I wanted to be, in life, being a father, any parent knows, well, all of a sudden that becomes at the top

of what it is you need to take care of. And so your career as much as you want to do it, inherently, instinctually becomes too. It doesn't become less important, but it becomes too. It's also a little bit of what I was talking about earlier in the book about not having reverence for things, being more impressed and more involved with them, having full respect for the job, for the mortal thing that you're trying to acquire or the person, but not a reverence that keeps you from being involved in it. When I had family,

and then when we had children, and before we ever had children come let's say look here's the deal you go You go to work wherever I go in the world we go I had a moment there. I was like what oh name my mind going no when I go to work I live on my own I have my airstring I'm with the dog. That's it and As that's going through this year just like in the rest of says, she'd, this is you better nod your head and say, I said, yes, ma'am. And it was the right condition. And that's been, was wonderful for my dream, my career, to have my children there, to interrupt my time when I got home from work, or say goodbye to in the morning, to know that that at the end of the day they were the most important thing.

Actually opened up and allowed me to do better work. It's also kind of scientific in that myself and I find this is true. A lot of people turn this do their best thinking, say on the road driving. And there's something scientific about you're performing a couple of motor skills, your foot on the pedal, you're maintaining the speed limit, but you're not thinking about it. Your hands are on a wheel, you're staying in your lane, but you had really thought about why you're staying in lane. But doing those simple motor skills has opened up a creativity.

It's almost why kids like a squishy ball. Let me do one little thing that I don't have to think about on the side, and that allows me to free up and do this other thing. Well, having a family or having somebody like, or faith or whatever you go, no, that's most important. That's the neighborhood, but we're not even discussing that. That's an obligation of mine. I understand that that's more important.

My family or whatever that is in someone's life. Once we go, I know that is, and I don't have to think about that, being the most important thing. It'll, can open up us being better at achieving that maybe career goal, or what we do in our career. And the desperation can lead to, sort of the the story.

You tell the stories too fast. The pace is too fast. The desperation you get ahead of time. You don't have the breaths that great, the drama of life gives. That telling great stories has, the pause, the take the time, the details, the not rushing to get to the punchline. You know, and whatever story we're telling and whatever our job is, whatever our goal the take the time and the details, the not rushing to get to the punchline. You know, and whatever story we're telling and whatever our job is, whatever our goal is,

is going to stick in this process. I'm trusting, I'll get to the end of the story. I'll get to the punchline when it's time. I'll feel it. Trust it. Don't anticipate it. Because if you need something, you're desperate, you're always anticipating.

You know, is it random? Is she there? Is the next job there? Is this the one? And when you're doing that, you're missing, you missed her when she just walked right by you because you were thinking she was supposed to be over there. Or you missed, you know, you were so anxious about doing that, getting that audition right. Es la temporada rum. Quiere decir que es hora de servir con la rum 1500, la rum 3500 y la rum TRX. Ven ya por grandes ofertas en las camionetas hechas para servir.

Ahora, durante la temporada rum, obtendí es por 100 menos de lm sorpía al comprar la rum 1500 long star, 2023 equipada con motor V6. No compatible con ofertas de arriendo ni offer of running or other offer of incentive or consumer, consult the agency for details, Dom and Trega minorista for the five of Julio in 23. So how do you get better at that? How does someone get better at that quality? Because that's hard and it's something that it's right.

Right, trust is hard. Trust is hard. I mean, because look, and let's not be little, the other side of that, which is, damn right, you know what you want, be obsessed and go get it. Go get it. Got many things in my life, because I didn't ask permission. That's what I was going to say. I'm getting it.

I'm writing the headline first, and then I'm gonna live the story to go get it. I'm plenty, so it is a balance of those two. I bring up Hollywood being a place you wanna want not need because it is fickle. You can think you want Hollywood. There's not help when it signs out there. The guards at the gates ain't there to keep you in there to keep you out. Whatever you want to be. Yes,

yes, yes, yes, yes, well, man, too many yeses make a tyrant out of anybody. So, you've got to form some sort of stance and self-identity and make some sacrifices to know who you are and who you're not, and make that looked important thing, that you're not going to do something that's going to sacrifice who you are or sacrifice your soul, which is then inherently is making Hollywood just a want, not a need, by thinking of it that way. I'm in a process of elimination you're saying as the kind of how to find out who you really are, is basically a process of elimination you're saying is the kind of how to find out who you really are. It's basically a process of elimination knowing what you don't want to be.

Initially, for sure. And if we get so fortunate to get to a place where we're like, okay, now I have in front of me who I am and what I do want to be paying a target. But most of the time, I've found that figuring out who I am is not being so clear about what it is I want to do, but eliminating what it is I don't want to do. We're going no, I'm not that or no, I don't like hanging out with them because every time I come away, I may maybe have a good time, but I have a little bit of a hangover because I feel guilty about the subject matter we talked about or or maybe they gossip too much about whatever it is.

Or no, I don't like to go to that place. I don't know why. When I have the same amount of drinks at that place, I have a worse hangover than I have the same amount of drinks at this place. Maybe there's something making my drink or maybe it's just again the people in the place and what's going on. You start eliminating these things that don't feed you back again delayed gratification, not the gratification. Just extend if we can extend our how do I feel our our decision before we make go. How am I going to feel about this tomorrow morning?

How am I going to feel about this next week? How am I going to feel about this next week? How am I going to feel? What's my use you're going to be? What's the story at the end of the story about this in a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, a month, month, a month, month. And look, I'm not someone who has gone without immediate

pleasures. I'm definitely a heathenist. And sometimes it's like, by hook or by crook, effing, dude, the pleasure is good for you. Each cake now. Don't save it anymore. Eat it. Have two.

I'm all for that as well. But also, I'll say this, there's times where I'm doing, you do that. It's also good to go. I'm gonna say, I'll say this, there's times where I'm doing, you do that. It's also good to go. I'm willing, I want to enjoy the pleasure so much now, but I'm recognizing that it may have consequences. I'm recognizing, tell my kids, tell my kids this the other day, they got Friday school, they're done. They get home, they got Friday school, they're done.

They got home warm. They got about an hour and a half, free time Friday. And I'm like, why don't you do it now? Then Sunday evening, if we're all going outside or eating, you don't have to be interrupted and leave the fun to go do your homework. Well, two of them, yes, I'm gonna get it done. One of them, no, I'm gonna get it done. One of them, no, I'm not doing it now. I'm like,

okay, so when Sunday comes and you got to leave the whole party or whatever it is that we're having with the family and you got to go do your homework, don't be palting because here's your choice right here. Well, come Sunday, didn't do his homework, got to go do the homework. He's out and I'm like see that right there, we called it, we called it. And not only with children, but all of us are like just think about what the cons goes. And sometimes it's like, yep, I got two pieces of cake here right now, I got the sweets in front of me. I want the next one, but if I don't have the next one, I'm not gonna have one for tomorrow night. I don't care.

I want them both right now. And so, but then realize, well, tomorrow night, don't get upset when you don't have any cake because you're doubling up tonight. And if we just go, got it, I know I'm gonna go without, or I'm gonna stay out and have an extra drink. Well, you're gonna be a long over tomorrow and you got that work to do. Well, I don't care, I'll bulldog through it. I know I'm gonna go without or I'm gonna stay out and have an extra drink. Well, you're gonna be a long over tomorrow

And you got that work to do. Well, I don't care. I'll bulldog through it. Okay, then go have that other drink, but tomorrow morning. Don't be bitching You know exactly that that's the thing don't that I don't I get rid that almost it's like false modesty in a way It's like that next day. Oh, I'm never doing that again. Shut up. You are to doing that again And out there you say you're not ever doing that again I'll never do that again. Shut up. You are to doing that again. And out there, you say you're not ever doing that again. Do it again plenty of times.

But don't whine in it. You did it. You made the choice. You do even new last night that you made the choice. Exactly. And so like that, have you always had that in you or did you let the develop that over time?

Because did you ever hear about that experiment that the doctor that they basically like I don't know years ago they put a bunch of kids into like a a resource place and they and they gave them a piece of cake and they walked out of the room and you know talking about yeah yeah and it was about like if the kid ate the cake it tells you how that person's going to be later on in life, right? Yeah. So, would you have eaten that cake in that research back then? Were you always like this or?

It goes back and forth. I mean, I've always had it to an extent. And I see myself and my kids, I have one that is going to save that cake that I'm like, Paul, he's the one that I'm not going. No, let's get away with some more stuff, you do one that I'm not going. No, let's get away with some more stuff, you know, he's all right. No, no, no, no, no, no, that's too much to lay a gratification. I mean, let's, let's screw up, you know, I mean, you know, right?

Let's, let's throw, throw responsibility out the window from it. You know, we got to, you know, some of the other ones, a couple of other ones. I'm like, well, they still need to learn a little bit more about investing ROI in their future T and themselves up for, you know, doing something today, making a sacrifice maybe today that can give them more pleasure tomorrow. I always had that, but it is, look, I would say if anything, I'd probably say, if I look back, I would like, sometimes I'd probably even now go, oh, dude, come on, if you want to just eat it now then. Because what we also can do sometimes, when we say,

we'd prefer to have two pieces of cake, and if we both now would have one for tomorrow night, I'd hang on a sec, make me all have two now. And find that extra box of cake mix in the back of the pantry and late night to night make another one so I can have two tomorrow night too. You tell me only got two pieces. Maybe I'll create, you know, maybe,

but I'll start with you now and then and go damn right ahead too last night, and have another one tonight, because I went and made a cake. You know what I mean? Exactly, exactly. You wanna leave it open for that too, and I've definitely pulled off some of those things.

I'm like, okay, I'm going for this right now, and I'll just deal with what? I'll deal with the consequences. I won't go with that. And then all of a sudden, figure it out, and I was like, oh, I got to have a cake. I need it too. Exactly. I was going to say that. Exactly. Do you have like another five minutes so I can I don't I don't want to I want to be respectful of your time because I know you've been doing a

lot of these. Do you have five minutes for me to ask you some rapid fire questions? Come on. Yeah. Okay. Make sure yeah. You got you got fine. Okay. Cool. What is your favorite song pink asses john milking your favorite movie not one of your own let me give you four okay fine four okay Indian runner john pins directorial debut raising Arizona going HUD, Paul Newman, Marty Ritt, director 1962, and adaptation.

Spike Jones. Okay. I know your favorite book already. It's in your book, so the greatest salesman, right? There's your favorite book, so. And Emerson's essays on, and he's got one particular essay on self-aliance that it just like gold to me. It sits over there and it's, it's, it's, it's only, it's not that many pages, but I'm even the first time I read it. It took me like over a year to read because every line,

I was like, whoa, okay, I got to walk away with that line and try to apply that to life and come back two weeks later and read the next line. We're very slow. Wow. I'm a slow reader too. You would be surprised how long it took me to read your book even. So I got it.

I got it. Self-reliance, I'm going to read that. Okay, a few more. Running, biking, or swimming, which one do you like the best? Running. Which are favorite workouts? Running?

Favorite workout. No, favorite workout. Besides the obvious. Besides the obvious. All right, I'll say this one for a night out dancing with my wife. Oh. That, that, that, that, and then to great, talk about, that's great cardio.

So if I can get in and groove, oh, I love, I love to dance. And especially if I don't, favorite workout would be dancing all night Saturday night when I ain't gotta go back to work till Thursday. No, I like that. Are you that good of a dancer? I love the dance.

I have been told I have very original dance moves, but I know I know that I do have rhythm. Mm, okay, that's good to know. Who would you like to meet that you haven't had the chance to meet living and of course dead? Jesus, like dang out then, what a cool, what a cool cat. What a cool, cool cat. How about a negative, you utilitarian?

I was gonna say. Yeah. How about living? Shhh. Shhh. Shhh. Shhh. Shhh.

Shhh. Shhh. Shhh. Shhh. Shhh. Shhh. Uh, right now. Right now, I'd like to have an afternoon with President Joe Biden. Oh, I'm sure you can make that happen. You think so? I mean, I don't know if I can get an afternoon, but yeah, an hour. I hope he would be able to maybe get me on the docket for an hour.

Maybe, maybe I can help you out later on. No, please. Okay, and then one more bucket list thing you still haven't done, because you've done so many things that you still want to. Yeah. The bucket, the big bucket list thing you still haven't done because you've done so many things that you still want to. Yeah. The bucket, the big bucket list is raised three autonomous, conscientious, confident children who are not going to be afraid to go out into the world and navigate and negotiate it. afraid to go out into the world and navigate and negotiate it. And that will become for you my best friend later in life. Oh wow, that's a good one. It's a good one. I think

those are all my questions. Those are all my rapid fire questions. And you know, I have like a bunch of other questions, but you know what, you've been such a doll for taking out this time and, you know, hanging out with me and humoring me. And yet another person asked, asking the same question. No, I appreciate it. No, really. Again, I really enjoyed it. It was completely original for me. And then really enjoyed your take, your questions, and our conversation all together.

Well, I really appreciate this. I really had a great time talking to you. enjoyed your take, your questions, and our conversation, and all together. Well, I really appreciate this. I really had a great time talking to you. And thank you so much. You're going to be writing a new book, another book. What are you doing next? Like, what are you going to be besides, of course, talking to Joe Biden? But yeah, I mean, you know, being on this book tour, it

has helped crystallize some ideas of mine that give me some idea of an intention for what the next book could be. And I do want to keep writing. I really thoroughly enjoyed this process. And it's, it's, it's, I want to continue to do it again. I'm if I can have something worthy of, worthy of, of Sharon. Yeah, right now I'm kind of, we're taking care of the family, right out this COVID thing until we all feel secure with embracing,

measure then how much the world has actually changed, which I believe it's gonna be, at least in my life, to quite a bit to an extent. There's many versions of this sort of interaction, business wise that I actually prefer and will continue to practice You know and where that where where we're going in the form of our communication in the future As changed a lot for me and I think we'll change for a lot of people Yeah, what we've learned and even companies have learned actually that oh actually we're we're more productive this way. And then I've just, you know, got this theory of, personally, and as a people,

and as a country, is there anything I can add that can be useful to help us build forward and come out of this time of great distrust where we can form some social contract between ourselves again and each other. My hunch is that we can do that through a common denominator of values that are supersede and slide in between your politics and your religion to reform some trust with others and ourselves again and get back on the road to involvement coming out of this red light year because this year's still gonna turn green one day. One day. One day. One day. One day. One day. It's going to be relative for each person. You know, and again, I mean, sometimes, you know, someone hears that and they go, what do you mean? I just lost my dad or I lost

a loved one. What do you mean? Turn green. I'm not saying again, it ever denies the red light of a loss. But the assets of even tragedy of losing someone that we love, they are revealed later in life. And if they're not revealed in our life, maybe they'll be revealed in our children's life. If they're not revealed in their life, maybe they'll be revealed in their children's life. But somewhere in the future of time, the assets of our relationship will be revealed. And even this year, I fully believe that they will be. But we've got some work to do to start turning the lights, to turn some of the, if they turn the red, maybe go to yellow first and then in the green, we've got some building to do.

I was going to say, I mean, I know you're, isn't the movie business? I totally shut down still and no one's really doing much right now, right? Thanks. I'm surprised at how much they are doing actually. I'm not. I'm surprised at how much they are making. I mean, the future of the movie business is in flux. The future of theatrical releases is in flux. What is the future of the theater of going out to the movies? Is there going to be these big social gatherings? Are those going to become sort of calendar events that happen once a month where people plan and you've got to go through certain protocols?

And it's a big event that happens. I don't know. The world will still want content. The world will still want to be entertained. The world will still be enlightened. The world will still want to be entertained. The world will still be enlightened. The world will still want to be educated. And if you can do all three of those in one, that's really cool. Just where the content. This is a random question a little bit, but you know someone who's like, you seem to be

very into like health and fitness and wellness still. Yeah, like that's kind of like the brand that I've always growing up thought of you as and you seem to always talk about what you need to sweat every day like me and working out. How come you never started some kind of wellness or health fitness brand or put your name on something or have you and I just don't even know about it. I mean, we know we have our,

I mean, I'm not a physically fit workout nut. Like I said, what I really like to do rather than go to the gym and go for dances all night with my wife on the earth. Exactly, dancing in sex, I got it. Yeah. I mean, that'd be ideal. Do you work out every day? I break a sweat every day.

Doing what? Well, running. Sometimes, you know, like a, we've got a knee that I'm dealing with now. So I've had to hit the elliptical because the nautical skill has been out. I really like to hit the elliptical because the no, the Christmas has been out. I really like to wrestle, which is how I torment. That's how you tore it. Oh my God. I have something for you if you want it, Ben. Have you tried trampoline, a trampoline? Yeah. My kids love it. I don't, it doesn't, it hasn't done my back to it. Oh, yeah.

I noticed that it was a little bit different than it used to be when I was eight years old doing double back flips. I don't mean doing that stuff. I mean, like, you know, just jumping up and down for your lymphatic system and giving your knee a break because I have the same doing that stuff. I mean, just jumping up and down for your lymphatic system and giving your knee a break, because I have the same problem right now. I have a knee issue. And so I've been trying to, for cardio and for sweat breaking a sweat,

you should try jumping on a trampoline. You break a sweat, just jumping up and down, trampoline. Well, you got to do, it's 80% less impact than being on the floor, on the ground, right? So you can do, you can 80% less impact than being on the floor, on the ground, right? So you can do, like, you can, like, run on the spot, you know, I hold, like, little weight. And I, like, and I, and I, I, I basically do a lot of high knees on there and then, like, jumping jacks with it.

And you can do, basically, like, it's not going to be running, but at least it's really good for your lymphatic system and get you kind of going. And it's, and with a knee problem, you've got to be super careful. So as I'm sure you know, right? Yeah. You have my workout changes. I mean, you know, I've got in different places,

I got different, different, different runs that I'll find. And I'm a guy, I like to go run for time. Meaning like I'm gonna run that way for 20 minutes. And all I know is it's away from home. Yes, it's a happy point. I'm tired, but the way home's always easier because you know you're gonna make it home. You know, I can, well, I'm definitely making it home.

And if I run half, I run half the distance away from home. Yeah, then I can out. So you don't do weights or anything like that? Mostly body weight. Body weight stuff. And then it matters what role I'm gonna have. You know, I just try to keep my body in a few weeks from able to get in peak condition

for what I need to do unless it's something extreme, like a thousand miles by, or something. I love these myths busters because I thought you had hair of transplants and I also thought you were like a workout fanatic and now I know you're not. No, I'm a workout fanatic. You know, we eat well. We eat well. I'm going to, you know, I would, I like to run, do pushups, do crunches. And so, during my run, if I get tired, I'll drop into 20. And it's a great, my legs, but then after about three sets of 20, then it's like, oh, geez, not another pushups, I want to keep running, so I'll just keep running, just go,

just, and I'll just say, run until you've done 200 pushups. Oh, I love that, yeah, I do that too. Like, little games that I love that. Yeah, I do that too. Like little games at yourself. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. No, I miss it. It's what? It's fun to mix it up. 100%. No, I was curious because I thought like because of who I thought you would, you know, just from what you see out there, I thought I'm curious why he's never like put his name on a fitness brand or health brand or started something or I've been approached and and and and being you know approached in the in the wellness world now we have our foundation which is about health nutrition and gratitude

right um sort of love that all about about wellness wellness for younger men and women, but never really know, not on a brand. I bet you I could design some cool shoes out for me. 100%. I'm from some footwear company. I'm sure you can. Who is that? See, you know, I think you hear that. You might.

I know. I think you can fight. You know, if you make, I usually do this podcast, by the way, on treadmills. I don't know if you know that or not. What that was. I knew it was something that is more taxable. Yeah.

People think it's a game of throwing chair, but it's not. It's just, it's the fact. It's basically, I usually do that. I don't normally do it like this. We do it on treadmills. And the idea is to kind basically, I usually do that, we don't, I don't normally do it like this, we do it on treadmills. And the idea is to kind of, not just multitask, but it's good for your brain, for your cognitive. That's what I was talking about earlier,

when I was talking about driving. You know, having a foot on the pedal, but you don't think it opens up, you know, to be able to do some sort of physical activity that you want to think about, you know, you're not thinking about in the conversation, oh, I gotta stay on the treadmill. No, you're in the center.

You're not sprinting, but you're in there moving and it opens up the mind to freeze the mind. Absolutely, and that's why, for me, that's why a lot of what you talk about really resonated with me personally because it just, it made sense for so many reasons, not because I do what you do, but because in my life, I can relate it to me. I know. So that's why.

Do you take any supplements? Do you do anything to be to stay this way besides eating well and running and... It's absolutely kosamines for my joints. That's really it. I don't, I take I'll take some protein powder when I'm you know after after I after I work out Just to sort of you know hold the weight on and hold the maintain the weight in the places that I want to maintain the weight Because at 51, 188 pounds, my body at 188 today is different than my body was at 188 when I was 30. Right. Although you can't tell, I could you not, I'm not just saying that to blow like smoke up

your butt. I cannot believe that you look just as young or just exactly the same as you do when you did you know 20 years ago. Well thank you. It must be genetics. You know what I mean what it would be, geez, I don't have a lot of stress, I like to work hard but I don't like to stress. You know what the simplest one I think is? That people don't do enough of and it's so simple and I'm sure you drink more water. People say that,

do you really think hydrating that much makes a big difference for your skin? I do, especially if you like alcohol and I like my drinks, especially if you walk to keep it flowing to not get especially if you walk to keep it flowing to not get the circulation. I mean, yeah, I think that I think it's very important. Wow. I mean, if we can all look like you at 51 by drinking some water, I think that's and it's cheap and free. I think it's a great tip. Anything else that you do? Well, I'm all for getting out and getting a little bit sunshine without too much sunscreen on. I'm all for going and go get you a little bit to a little hit. Plame and Dean. On your back too.

And yeah, and I think just that if you can break a sweat, that's a form of circulating and hydrating and getting a movement. Break into some sort of sweat. You say, generate it because a better people go, I broke the sweat, I went to the sauna. I was like, now you have to generate it from the inside out. So on is great, I'm all for it. Oh, you know what my latest favorite thing is and then it's novel.

But boy, talk about for recouping and joins feeling better and actually it does burn a lot of calories, the cold punch. Oh, I know, that's amazing. That's a really good one. Really? Do you do that? I try, I try to, I'm working on getting one actually here at the house now,

so I can just go, you know, work out and then do that three minute, three three minute sessions. And it does everything from heel to tighten your skin up to get your body up to amazing. Get your body ready for extreme situations because it does have learning curve with it. When you first get in there, you're like, oh, I know. It's crazy. You can leave, you learn to level it down and control it. It's, it's, you know, do you know what they say to do is do cold plunge and then do

the sauna go back and forth? Yeah. Yeah. Do you have a sauna at your house though or no? Yes. Oh. Do you have a clear light one? I'm thinking of buying a clear light one. Not even know what the brand is, but I've got to, it's a tie-powered, it's hot. It's immediate.

It's hot, to hot one. I think that's basically all my questions though for you, unless you have anything else you want to share. No, I think so. We covered a lot of great stuff. I enjoyed it. I really appreciate you taking the time and sitting with me and doing all of this. And if you want, if you want a trampoline, I know how to get one for you. Okay.

Deal. Deal. Deal. All right. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day. You too. And the book. the book is called Green Lights, if you don't know, is like the number one bestseller right now.

Here's to catch you and create more of them for ourselves and each other. Those egotistical, utilitarians go. Exactly, number five on the goals. You're amazing. Thank you so much. I hope to meet you one day soon. You too.

All right, be well. Bye. This episode is brought to you by the YAP Media Podcast Network. I'm Holla Taha, CEO of the award-winning digital media empire YAP Media, and host of YAP Young & Profiting Podcast, a number one entrepreneurship and self-improvement podcast where you can listen, learn, and profit. On Young & Profiting Podcast, I interview the brightest minds in the world, and I turn their wisdom into actionable advice that you can use in your daily life. Each week, we dive into a new topic like the art of side hustles, how to level up your

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