“Eliminate who we are not first, then we will find ourselves where we need to be.” – Matthew McConaughey, Greenlights
Welcome to The Vibe!
The blog that shovels the driveway after hitting the “publish” button.
Each week we share ONE IDEA that helps you live a better life.
This week’s topic is FOCUS.
And why doing less gives us the GREENLIGHT to become more.
The Vibe: Greenlights
Do fewer things better.
Walk away from the unessential.
Go all in on what matters most.
Doing this will lead you to what Academy Award winner and now best-selling author Matthew McConaughey calls a GREENLIGHT.
In his memoir, GREENLIGHTS, McConaughey tells funny and candid stories that led him from a blue-collar family in Texas to one of the most famous people in Hollywood.
Greenlights is a book that resonates with you after you put it down.
McConaughey does the narration himself.
Think south Texas meets Dennis Hopper.
The audio book gives you the feeling that you are drinking beers with McConaughey at a bar in Austin as he tells stories.
No surprise, McConaughey is a phenomenal storyteller.
And his stories are surprisingly relatable.
McConaughey says the biggest trap he falls into is OVERCOMMITTING.
He takes on too many projects.
He puts too much on his schedule.
This lack of FOCUS leads him to “Make B’s, not A’s”.
McConaughey says that at one point he was running 5 different companies.
Then one day his phone rang.
It was his own production company.
He unexpectantly found himself not wanting to pick up the phone and talk to his own employees.
McConaughey had no idea why.
The people calling were his people.
They were calling about projects being run by his own company.
Faster than you can say, “Alright, Alright, Alright.” McConaughey had a revelation.
He realized he lost FOCUS.
He was OVERCOMMITTED.
This caused him to produce average work.
McConaughey says he was “tired of making B’s in five things. I wanna make A’s in three things.”
McConaughey made a decision to FOCUS only on his top THREE PRIORITIES: Making movies, his foundation, & his family.
He gave himself the GREENLIGHT to walk away from everything else.
On the spot, he picked up the phone, called his attorney and shut down his production company and music label.
FOCUSING on less, helped him become more.
We may not be making movies.
But each of us are writing the next chapter of our life.
That story is written by what we give our FOCUS and ENERGY to each day.
We are at the end of an ass kicking year.
Some of us will try to make RESOLUTIONS in an attempt to make our next chapter better.
Stop.
REDLIGHT!
No need to add anything to your already full schedule.
The magic is in the SUBTRACTION.
Pick ONE THING that no longer fits the story you are trying to write.
Just let it go.
No need to be DAZED and CONFUSED.
FOCUS on the few things that mater most.
McConaughey writes, “Get rid of the excess in our life that keeps us from being more of ourselves.”
This takes SELF-AWARENESS.
This takes COURAGE.
But it’s so worth it.
Do it for your BUSINESS.
Do it for your FAMILY.
Do it for YOU.
Less B’s.
More A’s.
Giddy up…
#Greenlight
Until next week,
Joe Ciccarone
The Vibe 