Matthew McConaughey University of
Houston Speech
同志社香里中学校

３年

吉光琉

瑠中学生―Ｄ部門

I’m going to talk to you about some things. I’ve learned in my journey.
Most from experience, some of them I heard in passing, many I’m stillpracticing, but all of them, I do believe, are true.

So here we go.
Number one, life’s not easy. It is not. Don’t try to make it that way. Life’s
not fair. Never was. It isn’t now, and it won’t ever be. Do not fall into thetrap, the entitlement trap of feeling like you’re a victim. You are not. Get overit and get on with it. And yes, most things are more rewarding when you
break a sweat to get them.

Number two. Unbelievable is the stupidest word in the dictionary. Should
never come out of our mouths. Think about it. To say, what an unbelievableplay. It was unbelievable book, an unbelievable film, an unbelievable act ofcourage. Really?
Itmaybespectacular,

it

may

bephenomenal,mostexcellent

oroutstanding. But unbelievable? Give others and yourself more credit. It justhappened. You just did it. Believe it

Number three. Happiness is an emotional response to an outcome. If Iwin, I will be happy. If I don’t, I won’t. It’s an if-then, cause and effect, quidpro quo, standard that we cannot sustain, because we immediately raise it
every time we attain it.
See, happiness demands a certain outcome. It is result reliant. And I say
if happiness is what you’re after, then you’re going to be let down frequently
and you’re going to be unhappy much of you time.
Joy is a different thing. Joy is not a choice. It’s not a response to someresult. It’s a constant. Joy is the feeling that we have from doing what we are22

fashioned to do, no matter the outcome.
See, joy is always in process. It’s under construction. It is in constant
approach.

So the question that we got to ask ourselves is what success is to us? What
success is to you? Is it more money? Maybe it’s a healthy family. Maybe it’s ahappy marriage. Maybe is to help others, to be famous, to be spirituallysound, to leave the world a little bit better place that you found it.
Continue to ask yourself that question. Whatever your answer is, don’tchoose anything that will jeopardize your soul. Prioritize who you are, whoyou want to be, and don’t spend time with anything that antagonizes yourcharacter.

Here we go. Number five. Process of elimination is the first step to ouridentity, A.K.A. where you are not is as important as where you are.
Look, the first step that leads to our identity in life is usually not, I know
who I am. The first step is usually, “I know who I am not” Process ofelimination. Defining ourselves by what we are not is the first step that leads
us to really knowing who we are. And when you do this, when you do put
them down, when you quit go in there and you quit giving them you time,
you inadvertently find yourself spending more time and in more places thatare healthy for you, that bring you more joy.
Why? Because you just eliminated the who’s, the where’s, the what’s, andthe when that were keeping you from your identity?

Trust me, too many options. I promise you, too many options will make atyrant of us all. So get rid of the excess, the wasted time. Decrease youroptions.

Let’s make it a place where we break a sweat, where we believe, wherewe enjoy the process of succeeding. Voluntarily keeping our own council
because we want to. And that is the place that I’m talking about.

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中学生―Ｄ部門

Number four. Define success for yourself. We all want to succeed, right?

【出典】
University of Houston Speech「Matthew McConaughey University of HoustonSpeech」〈Matthew McConaughey University of Houston Speech - YouTube〉
中学生―Ｄ部門（最終アクセス2021年10月13日）

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