I wanted to compare Matthew McConaughey’s so-called secrets to success with those espoused by others that have given a more relatable pathway to it in less time using plain English. With life being short, I feel it’s best to be succinct. As such, after carrying out deep dives into the paths taken by some of the world’s most unlikely successful people, whether it be long shots like Schwarzenegger or Stallone, or controversial business wunderkind Elon Musk, I’ve found that they all say the same thing. Identify your goal(s) by figuring out what you want to do, who you want to be and then set out a course to do and be it.
You can follow the blueprint taken by someone else, like Arnold did. In rejecting his parents’ small town Austrian dreams of what they wanted for him, he took his unpronounceable name, indiscernible accent and massive frame to the top of the bodybuilding world, entertainment industry and political realm.
With respect to Arnold, consider that in his early teens, he used to break into the local gym when it was closed on the weekends, risking the wrath of his father – who was a policeman, no less – just so he wouldn’t miss a workout. Consider further that with the Austrian Army not willing to give him leave during his mandatory service’s basic training hitch to compete in the Junior Mr. Europe contest in London, he went anyway, winning it all. Then, barely sticking around long enough to grab his trophy, he returned in a hurry to serve his week in military prison for being AWOL, so he could get back to training for more glory.
Arriving in America with no source of income and no ability to speak English, he created his own source of income by starting a bricklaying business with a fellow bodybuilder, mixing cement and knocking down walls with a sledgehammer to augment his training for Mr. Olympia, winning it at the age of 23. Then, turning all of the negative aspects of himself, namely his body, his accent and his name, into, if not positives, certainly something unique, specifically ”The Terminator”. Then, after conquering Hollywood, he turns the fact that he was a political outsider with no experience into a positive and wins the highest political seat in California. He then followed that feat up by winning re-election for another term.
Or you can be like Sylvester, whose birth defect and speech impediment made even the roles for bit parts playing an Italian – such as the one that he couldn’t land simply playing an extra in “The Godfather” – out of reach, and take matters into your own hands — literally — by writing your way into the business.
Consider that in Sly’s rented room, which was so small you could open the window on one side of it and close the door on the other all while sitting on the bed writing, he painted the window black so he wouldn’t be distracted by activity outside. Or that he forced himself to write about anything and everything – none of which he was pretty sure would ever amount to anything – just to get better at it, all the while rejecting any notion of finding a regular-paying job as if he got comfortable and complacent, he feared he would then never be hungry enough to keep trying.
After writing thousands of pages of nothing – pretty much one for each acting role rejection – he found himself in a bar that was showing the 1975 Muhammad Ali-Chuck Wepner fight. The event he witnessed was the catalyst that inspired him to draft a classic underdog-overcoming-overwhelming-odds love story in a furious writing spree. Then, while being rejected for an acting role, he mentioned in passing that he also did some writing, which prompted those hosting the audition to ask him to bring it to them to look at, demonstrating that even during rejection, there is always the possibility of a connection being made.
Consider further that, having mastered poverty, he resists the ever-increasing offers of money to sell the story – his story – which reached amounts that he had never dreamed of, provided almost anyone but him stars in it, by repeatedly saying no. Just like “Rocky”, he knew this was his only shot to ensure that he wouldn’t be one of those many unfortunates that have unrealized dreams at the end of their lives
Disclaimer: The information contained herein should not be construed or considered professional advice. Nonetheless, thanks for reading! If it resonates, there’s “plenty more where that came from” on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube ‘n’ Twitter.