Advice from Matthew McConaughey

Or how to extract useful pointers from ridiculously famous people's writing

Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash

My husband talked me into reading Matthew McConaughey’s autobiography.

Like most Austinites, I have an affection for the man. He’s a convergent symbol for everything sports and also weird about Austin. And he’s done some amazing acting, the first season of True Detective being my favorite. BUT books written by celebrities aren’t my usual fare.

A celebrity autobiography usually reads as if the editor has been reticent to offer much critique in the blinding face of a golden media god. Or maybe the editor made great suggestions that weren’t taken because a famous person has the pull to get something published and publicized regardless. Either way, as an author who takes the editing process seriously, this tends to grate on me.

Side Note: I admit it; I googled the spelling of “McConaughey,” as in, I had to refer back to the correct spelling almost letter by letter.

McConaughey as Detective Cohle in True Detective, season 1.

As I began Greenlights, my thoughts about editing were the same.

BUT the stories were sooo entertaining. His stay as an exchange student with a bizarrely eccentric Australian family, his parents’ fights involving ketchup as a projectile, wrestling an indigenous African man and holding his own — wow. They were so fun. A little bit bullshit? Maybe. Probably. But every good storyteller skates the line between compelling truth and entertaining lies.

MM came into the spotlight right about the time I moved to Austin and started college, so the behind-the-scenes looks were enjoyable — the filming of Dazed and Confused, the naked bongos at 2am arrest story, how he broke into dramatic films from his pigeon hole in romantic comedy. When I put my inner snobby editor to bed for a while, it was a fun read.

There’s a lot of broad, sweeping life advice peppered into the stories — truths McConaughey learned growing up, etc, etc. I skipped a lot of the pasted-in poetry and prose from his journals. Some of it was relevant; a lot of it I didn’t get. But you can argue, it’s an autobiography, and if it’s true that, as he says at the end, he wrote it mostly for himself, random cryptic journal entries make more sense.

Anyway…let’s get to the reason I feel compelled to talk about this book. My overall take: entertaining with a possible nugget or two of usable life advice. But mainly,

OHMYGOD, WE COULD ALL USE SOME MORE FAMOUS ATTRACTIVE WHITE GUY CONFIDENCE AND SELF-ASSUREDNESS.

MM makes decisions and executes them.

He doesn’t question his choices, doesn’t make mistakes but instead says to himself, “It’s time to go in a different direction.” Then, he jets off to a remote village in South America or Africa to commune with the universe and find that direction. He is all-in on everything he does. His dad’s advice on his decision to go into film was, “Son, don’t half-ass it.” He seems to have taken that very much to heart.

I am not a sexy white guy with the ease of multi-decade celebrity. But there is no reason I couldn’t manufacture that. So, I decided it was time to start tough-talking myself a little.

Side Note: There is a line from Starsky & Hutch we often quote: Did you just tough-talk a dead guy? I looked it up, and we’ve been misquoting it. It’s “dead body,” not “dead guy.” I like “guy” better. I hate it when this happens.

Backstory on me that’s less interesting than MM’s wacky life:

I am an analytical person. The useful piece of this trait is that I make careful decisions based on solid rationale and evidence for what seems best. I rarely end up in self-created tight spots and have never in my life owed somebody money that I couldn’t pay back when promised. The shadow side? It can turn into a lot of considering but very little doing. I can think my choices long enough for the decision to become irrelevant. (Do I want to enter this writing competition? Let me think on it….Oh, look! The deadline’s past.)

Lately, I’ve been in just that overthinking place. Here’s where one of Greenlight’s nuggets spoke to me:

Sometimes, it’s more important THAT you make a decision than which decision you make.

This is a not new concept, but I needed reminding. For months, I’ve been looking back and forth at several writing projects and wringing my hands about which one to focus on. Then, I go play Spelling Bee on my phone and don’t do any writing at all.

So after finishing Greenlights with equal amounts of amusement and eye-rolling, I decided I should embrace my inner successful, attractive actor dude. Just pick something and DO it. Don’t whine about your fear that it won’t be an instant classic or even worth reading; just focus on getting it done.

That’s how I finally finished my first novel.

I didn’t allow my worry that the book would be crap creep too far into my psyche. I now have actual conversations in my head between my insecure, worrying self and my focused, driven self:

• I don’t know which is the right project.

• That’s probably because all of them are right. Pick one, and work on it.

• But what if it’s hard, and I don’t know what I’m doing?

• It will be and you won’t, but do it anyway.

• But why? I mean what even is the point of all this writing?

• Well, you want to, right? Remember how good you felt when you finished the first one? I mean, really you’re just trying to talk yourself out of trying and putting yourself out there again.

• Yeah, you’re right. Okay. Thanks.

• Remember, just finish it. Keep plunking words on the page til the story is done. That’s your focus.

This only works because I am the one talking to myself. If someone else spoke this way to me, I’d punch them in the throat. (At least with my eyes; I’m rarely a physically violent person.)

Is this advice for you?

I’m not necessarily suggesting this tough self-talk would be a good thing for you to do because I don’t know you or where you are in the journey of self discovery. You might be in a place where tough-talk would turn into berating yourself and spending all day in bed. You might be in a place where you need to be gentle and accepting of yourself. This is why I will never aspire to be a self-help guru. Ask me what you should do, and I’ll likely shrug my shoulders, at least until I’ve spent several hours listening to your specific troubles over coffee.

Side Note: Maybe I should’ve been a therapist??

I’m always trying to wrap these posts up with why I wrote this or with some sort of helpful nugget for you to take with you. Maybe making a decision being more important that what you decide is something you need to hear right now too, but how the hell would I know?

Probably the only blanket piece of advice I can give is this:

Be selective about what advice you take, especially from someone who leads a much different life than you do and is a vastly different kind of person.¹ A lot of it is not going to be FOR you. But if you pay attention, you’ll see the things that are.

1. But also don’t completely write off, say, the whole book. I made a point to go into Greenlights open-minded. It’s neither all bullshit, nor all golden. Take what you need, leave the rest.