Electronic Walkabout. No one should have to walk through life alone. We share the good times, the bad times, and the best times. Everyone needs a little direction now and again. And TC and Maddog are here to show you the way. A podcast where we talk about the important things in life. Come journey with us. The Electronic Walkabout. Well, wherever you're listening to in the world. Welcome to part two of our exciting episode that's focusing on Matthew McConaughey's book, Green Lights. We continue to share some of the inspirational quotes found in Matthew McConaughey's book, and we hope you enjoy them. I like this one because. And we'll talk a little bit about the. The one part of this. I'll take a little common sense with that knowledge.

Fair. I'll take a little common sense with that knowledge. Balance.

Balance. But. But here's the thing everybody talks about. Oh, it's just common sense. Just common sense. But no one tells you what.

There's no book of a common sense. You know, it's. Yeah, that's. That's a learned skill, for sure.

Not only that, you have to apply it too. Well, people are reluctant to do that for some reason.

Yeah. And it's a. It's. I don't know. I look at stuff like that, like, being very flexible because there's. It's not the same thing for everybody. It's not a textbook fit. It's. It's looking at something and applying it to your life and yourself, and that's different for every single person. So mine isn't the same as yours, isn't the same as Josh, isn't the same as Tyler. They're all different.

So what you're saying is basically your common sense. Not. Might not be my common sense.

Correct.

And that makes. I hate to say, like, but it makes sense. Yeah, it does.

Yeah. It's different. And it's. You know, because I might have gone through one thing in my life that has made me go, oh, I don't know if I would do that. And if I saw somebody else doing it, I'd be like, why would you do that? It's common sense. Don't do that. But they don't know that.

Right.

So it's. Yeah, I think it's. It's very. That's a personal.

And the thing about common sense, if it was truly common, there would be less mistakes.

What's it. You would think we would think that's the logic behind that statement. Absolutely.

But it never works out in that way.

No. You have to make mistakes, to figure it out. I can remember somebody like you, you know, you can't truly enjoy Premium plus Gold crackers unless you've had, you know, the name brand crushed. You know, you have to go through stuff to appreciate things. And I think through those journeys, that's where a lot of this quote unquote, common sense comes from. Because of your experiences and you might know a little bit better than others.

And I'll just take this one a little bit further because there's. There was someone that I worked with at one time that was a little intimidated by people that had university degrees because his response to this was, well, I went to university of hard knocks and, And I get that because there's a lot to be learned that in that university. And that's really the university we're talking about. Once we get to that, that building is.

Yeah, yeah, no, it really is. Absolutely. And, and, you know, it's. You see that. And you know, jokes, you know, around construction sites. Oh, here comes this scholastic person who studied construction all their life in a classroom trying to tell all the trades guys, you know, what to do or whatnot. So it's, it's, it's not a book. It's a learned thing.

It's a learned thing. But, but you're right, there's that balance, and I think that's. That where that's going. It's. But it's knowing when to apply the common sense and when to integrate that with the knowledge and vice versa. So here's one that just seems to kind of make sense. And it's called one in a row. Any success takes one in a row. Do one thing well, then another once, then once more, over and over until the. Then it's one of heroic.

Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. There's a saying in the martial arts community that, you know, the. The strong man doesn't practice 10,000 kicks once. He practices one kick 10,000 times.

Oh, wow.

Yeah. So I've always liked that one because it just, it speaks to really knowing what you're doing. And I think it kind of forays into that. It's got to be more than one in a row. Anybody can do anything once. Great. Sure. But the consistency and repetition will make it the success.

You know, it's fun. And I agree that. That. Nice segue to this. This one. One of the, One of the things that, when I, when I read this, that kind of popped into my mind was that that old saying, jack of all trades master has done so I don't know if it's getting there or basically saying, hey, look, you want to do one thing well, basically become a master of it. Don't be that jack of all trades, master a few things, right, and see what happens from there.

It's interesting. Like, one of my sons just is kind of going through that with his career, is that he was in construction, being kind of a foreman and dabbling in a little bit of everything, but he just wasn't being challenged enough. So he wants, he's started a job as an electrician. Now he's kind of honing that focus to be the master of one trade, which is pretty cool. So. So it has applications all over.

It's all good stuff. All good stuff, this one. It'll make sense to both you and I for sure. If you're not a starter and you think you should be given no choice in the decision play so well, it's undeniable.

Boom. I love that one. I haven't heard that one per se, but absolutely.

In the sporting world, in life, it just makes so much sense. Right. And I don't know about you, but like, literally when I first started doing that, that job I love so much, it was like, what can I do to be the best I can be? Right. And, and yeah, there's, there's always a little bit of sacrifice or a lot of sacrifice, depending on what it is. But at the end of the day, you, you don't want to give them any choice, but you, no.

And that's it. And that's the purpose of setting goals and striving for something. You know, I have a lot of people on my teams and for work and I, you know, I've seen some of them. The way you dress, I'm like, dress for the role you want, not the role you have because it makes them go. So when we go in, if you want to be looked at by your customer as somebody that knows what they're doing, that's intelligent, that's well put together, you have to present yourself that way. So, yeah, and, and to that point, I've, I've told that for my son with his football career, I said, you know, every time you step on that field, you need to smash everybody and be the best at every single play. And to your point, let them see you, let them show them what you can do. And, and they won't have to make a decision because it, it has already been presented.

It'll be a no brainer.

Exactly.

Yeah. Made for the moment. We are all made for every moment we encounter Whether the moment makes us or we make the moment, whether we are helpless in it or on top of it, the predator or the prey, we are made for the moment.

Live in the now.

Live in the now.

That's it. And that's. We've had this discussion before, too, and that's something that. Being in the moment is a challenge sometimes because people have so much, you know, foresight into what's going to happen in the future and leaning all the experiences in the past. But the moment is now, and it will always only ever be now. So, yeah, I'm. I'm a 100% proponent of living in the moment.

Well, it's. It's like we say, you walk about take advantage of the moment before the moment takes advantage of you. And that's what hit me with that. I mean, you must have been reading my book.

Exactly. You guys swapped and you didn't even know, like this.

This next one, I. There's a couple of different angles I want to take with this, but I want to hear what. What you have to say about it before we go there. Sometimes we have to leave what we know to find out what we know.

One more time. Sometimes we have to.

Sometimes we have to leave what we know to find out what we know.

Interesting. And that one's deep. Yeah, that's it. When I hear these things, I think relationships, I think work, I think friendships, like.

Okay, let me put that in all those right now. Okay. Whether it. Let's talk about a relationship.

Yeah.

Sometimes you have to walk away from that relationship to know exactly what you had before. You can decide whether you want to go back back to that relationship or not.

Been there, done that. Yep.

We talk about a job sometimes. You're working so hard to try and figure out what it is you need to get done to get the job done. When you walk away from that for some time, come back and it's now. I know what I need to do.

Now is that looking at things through a fresh lens by having that break. Is that how you're seeing that?

That's how I'm seeing everybody. But I don't think it's that simple. I really don't. I really don't. It's just a question of maybe. Maybe some introspection and saying what. What do I really know? I'm being honest about that. And it could be as deep as that. I'll put it down.

Yeah, right. Because it's almost one of those you don't know what you had till it's gone type thing. So. Oh, yeah, you know, to be preventative, maybe take that step yourself, to be able to analyze that so you don't lose it.

Yeah.

And you got lots of deepness today.

Well, but, but it was, it was kind of interesting because I thought about going through that because I knew about the little, the little sayings along the way, and I thought, just grab those because they're going to mean something. And there's a bit, there's a. He calls it a playbook, but there's a roadmap based on these things. But it's your roadmap to basically create. Right.

So choose your own adventure.

Choose your own adventure.

Right.

So sometimes which choice you make is not as important as making the choice and committing to it one more time.

Sometimes.

Sometimes which choice you make is not as important as making the choice and committing to it.

Correct. Sets follow through. That's what we're talking about.

I think it is. Yeah, I think it is.

Yeah. Because it's easy to say you're going to do stuff, but I think we've touched on this one previously, too. Just in, in kind of your word and what you're going to say you're going to do and stuff like that. I think that. Yeah, because.

Okay, let, let me, let me carry on with that. Okay, so there's, there's the word important here and the commit. Committing to what you say, what you're going to do is important because it speaks to who you are as a person.

Correct.

And that's, that's, that speaks to your integrity.

Yeah.

You're saying, okay, once I'm committed, I'm committed till. And really, if you can kind of keep that in the back of your mind. And that's, let's say, the, the intent all the time. And I say all the time because I don't think it happens 100% of the time.

No, everybody will do their best effort, but yeah, it definitely doesn't happen 100% of the time. But, yeah, no, I, I take that one as if you commit to something, you just have to follow through with it. And that, that's your character. That's, that's who you are on that.

Well, if you don't, it's not a commitment now, is it?

No, it's not just a comment.

I know you'll appreciate this next one. It's not a risk unless you can.

Lose the fight 100%. Yeah, I've risked a lot. I've lost a lot. But you don't learn if you don't and you don't value when things go right. And yeah, you see, I know some people that have had things on a relatively silver platter and, you know, they don't really try for much. There's no risk there. It's just things were kind of given to them. But I have a lot of respect for people that either try, you know, do their own business, whether it works out or not. It takes a certain amount of bravado to kind of throw it out there and do your own thing. And if it works out, great. But if it didn't, then you're learning from it.

You're learning from it. And it's that I'm going to fall down, but I'm going to get it back up again. I'm going to fall down, I'm going to get back up again because I know eyes wide open when I go down that road, there is risk and this is a possible outcome. I accept it and I move forward with it.

Exactly.

If we all made sense of humor, the default emotion, we would all get along better.

I'm 100% on that one. I. That's almost like my ebol. Right. I. I enjoy, you know, having humor in everything I do just because life is too short to not laugh and enjoy things. But, you know, some. Sometimes it goes over well, sometimes it doesn't, but, you know, it's. I'm okay with that.

Yeah. You certainly have to know your audience and I'll say the type of humor, but correct. Generally speaking, if you can get someone to crack a laugh.

Yeah.

You, You've. You've got some kind of a bond that's going on with. It is intention.

It makes people feel more comfortable. You know, there's a relaxing nature to laughing in any situation, so. Well, I guess certainly you wouldn't want. But I enjoy having humor as a regular part of my day and who I am. So I'm all about that one.

Yeah. If we were to learn and, And I, I don't know if you could actually put a. I'm sure there's been studies on this one. If you could somehow put a figure on how many times you laughed a day and what it did for the. The longevity of your life. I think it adds years.

Absolutely. I would, I would concur with that. I would enjoy seeing those statistics.

Yes.

You thought that might set off something completely different where you're just trying to make everybody laugh all the time. Hey, it works. It adds years to your life.

Yeah. And you probably know this, but my sense you were is pretty, pretty well deadpan serious. But like, literally, you gotta have the laugh. Oh, actually, absolutely. If you can walk into serious situation and again, knowing your audience and you can see the humor in that. Yeah, that's great. Knowing when to share it, it's the next.

That is a skill.

That's a learner.

Yeah. Delivery time.

There's been a couple times where, like, things have not gone over all that well, but you learn from that.

Yeah. To imagine with your line of work for the decades that you did it, humor wasn't probably a overly welcome thing for the most part. Not that people didn't like humor, but I just think the. Given the gravity of. Of kind of what you guys deal with and stuff like that, there might not be a lot of room for humor.

Certainly not. Well, we, we call this thing dark humor. That usually just like. And you're right, it only takes the edge off just to kind of move forward and deal with things later. Right?

Yeah. So I think it depends what, what, what line of work you're in. When I was 18, I was a security guard in Calgary at a hospital and somebody had passed away and, you know, the orderlies were bringing the body down to the morgue and, you know, it's just one. It was like, this is creepy. Right. There's nothing funny about it. And so the two orderlies, you know, went to grab the body bag to change the person from one gurney to the other, and the one guy dropped his end and the body hit the gurney and bunked, and guy's like, oh, my God, he's gonna feel that in the morning. I was mortified. I was like, but you know what? Given their line of work and that's what they deal with, you know, I think there's some coping mechanisms with that.

But yes, that's exactly what it is.

Yeah. And you know, to those two guys, that's probably very regular humor, but to somebody that's not in that line of work dealing with, you know, dead bodies all the time.

Yes, it's a little shocking. And to be clear, and I'm speaking from experience, it's. It's not that they don't respect.

No, not at all. Not at all.

Because the thing is, it's. It's not a pleasant thing to deal with. It's a. It's a brush with mortality. It really is.

Right.

So now this next one are. These are actually Matthew. Matt.

Matt.

Your buddy Matt. My buddy Matt. His goals that he wrote in the book. Right. So, I mean, and I think. I don't know when he would have written this, this basically 10 goals in life. But you think about it, let's say if you were in your early 20s or 30s, it wouldn't matter. But number one, he has become a father. Number two, he has find and keep a partner for me. Number three, he has keep my relationship with God. Number four, he has chase my best self. Here's an interesting one. We'll talk a little bit about this one after. Be an egotistical utilitarian. Six is take more risks. Number seven, stay close to mom and family. Number eight, win an Oscar for best actor. No, it's not going to be me. Yeah, no, no, no. Number nine, look back and enjoy the view. And number ten, just keep living.

So this is a lot of like his self analysis, I think looking at his life and times and probably pulling out 10 poignant topics or points to his life that he's trying to share with people. Thanks.

Absolutely. And that, number five, being egotistical, utilitarian. First of all, I said to myself, that makes no sense. So if we break that down. Okay, let's. If you're an egotistical person, who do you think about all?

Yourself.

Yourself. If you're a utilitarian, what are you thinking about all the time? You're thinking about helping others. Actually, that's what it is.

Okay.

So it's like, it's almost like a bit of an oxymoron. So we've. And I started to think about this. Be an egotistical. So you think about yourself utilitarian and you help people along the way.

Think about yourself helping others.

Yeah. And I don't know if, if it's that simple when you look at it, but he throws it out there and people very like, they don't go together.

Yeah, no, those don't make sense.

I don't know.

I, I like a lot of the other ones because, you know, become a father. That, that three words greatly impacts your life on numerous levels. Right. So I, I can see why that's there and you know, the taking risks and stuff. So it's a lot of, I think life lessons that he's just experienced that he's trying to advise, if you will.

Okay, So I totally agree with you. I read this list, I typed out this list and I thought about this list. And one of the things that popped into my mind was simply this. There's a question everybody has. Why are we here? And then I started thinking about this list. Well, this is why he is on this planet. Well, if we keep it as simple, he's found his Purpose. He's found his purpose. But if we keep it as simple as that. Talk about staying close to mom and family. How many times have we talked about the importance of family?

Yeah. So we're just as cool as he is. I think that's what I'm hearing.

And what was that impression you did?

Yeah. All right, all right, all right.

But I mean, and. And if. And one of. One of the things I was going to mention when we started is that there was what. There was a time in my life, really, I would read these motivational books and I'd get all excited, and then I wouldn't do anything. And I guess I was being a bit of a junkie because you'd read these books and they make you feel great, and then you'd never know how.

To put them into practice, maybe. Right.

That's all it is. It's no different than this book. You can read this book, feel great, but you have to do something. There has to be that fall through. And he actually talks about this as well.

Yeah. To your point, you can throw a book at anybody and, okay, learn this and take stuff away from it. Great. But how do you make it part of your routine or part of your, you know, how you exist?

There has to be that emotional attachment to that motivation. And when I say emotional, it could be simply that vision. And you're just using some of the things that. And if. Simple as saying, looking for green lights, to make sure that I see my vision become a reality and keep it as simple as that. Right. And along the way, taking others with me and making sure that I. That I stay close with my family and make sure I spend time with them.

Yeah, that's it. It's. And you know what? I think as you get older, that's how Christmas kind of changes for people. It's like I could care less and I get a single gift as long as the family is in the same room. You know, whether it's half them playing video games, others are playing Uno, people are cooking. But it's just that presence of being together. Right. That that kind of gets to what's important in life. It's also important to smother little children with tons of gifts at Christmas. That sounds cool, too. Yeah, But. But, yeah, no, it's. As you. As you grow, I think it helps just define what's important, because what's important at 50 versus what's important at 20 are two vastly different things.

Yeah. And at one point he says, look back and enjoy the view. It's a question of not just waiting till the end to do that. It's along the way, isn't?

Yeah. And every once in a while, I've had it. You know, you start reminiscing about stories and stuff like that. And my wife, a couple times, like, you should write a book. I'm like, there is some interesting stuff in there, isn't it? You know, not that do that. But yeah, it's.

Well, you know, this has been an interesting chat we've had and I guess. I guess we have one person to thank for the. I'll say the. The inspiration. Yeah. Matthew McConaughey. My budding matches he's referred to from here on. But unfortunately, that music is telling us that the first episodes come to an end. Remember that list that we just discussed? That's the important takeaways here. And as we had already mentioned, remember to take advantage of the moment before the moment takes advantage of you. To learn more about Ewalkabout, please Visit us at eWalkabout.