Take the Lid Off the Man Made Roofs We Put Above Ourselves and Always Play Like an Underdog – Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey during his 2015’s University of Houston speech, said an interesting statement that made me reflect. The statement is:

Take the lid off the man made roofs we put above ourselves and always play like an underdog – Matthew McConaughey

Before i dive into the analysis, i will quote his entire word concerning this topic, for clarity (you can also watch the video above – point 10).

Number 10. A roof is a man-made thing. This may cut a little close to the bone since the geography, but I think we all were there and we will all remember where we were. But in January 3rd, 1993, it was the NFL playoffs, and your Houston Oilers were playing the Buffalo Bills. The Oilers were up 28-3 at half time, 35-3 early in the third. Frank Reich and the Bills come back to win 41-38 in overtime for one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history. Yeah, the Bills won, but they didn’t really beat the Oilers. The Oilers lost that game, they beat themselves. You all remember that? Why? Why they beat themselves? Or how?

Was it because at halftime, they put a ceiling, roof, a limit on their belief in themselves, aka, prevent defense? Or maybe they started thinking about the next opponent in the playoffs at halftime. I mean, they were up, then they came out, played on their heels. Lost the mental edge the entire second half and voila, they lost. In a mere two quarters, defensive coordinator, Jim Eddy went from being called the defensive coordinator of the year and the man first in line to be a head coach next year, to a man without a job in the NFL.

You ever choked? Nobody has ever choked? I have. You know what I’m talking about, fumbling at the goal line, stuck a foot in your mouth once you got to the microphone, had a brain freeze on the exam that you were totally prepared for. Forgot the punch line to a joke in front of 4,000 graduating students at the University of Houston commencement. Or maybe you’ve had that feeling of, oh my god, life just cannot get any better than this moment. And ask yourself, do I deserve this? Now, what happens when we get that feeling? We tense up, we have this sort of outer body experience where we are literally seeing ourselves in the third person. And we realize that the moment just got bigger than us. Ever felt that way. I have.

It’s because we have created a fictitious ceiling, a roof, to our expectations of ourselves. A limit where we think it’s all too good to be true. But it’s not. And it’s not our right to say or believe it is. We shouldn’t create these restrictions on ourselves. A blue ribbon, a statue, a score, a great idea, the love of our life, a euphoric bliss. Who are we to think that we don’t deserve or haven’t earned these gifts when we get them? It’s not all right. But if we stay in process within ourselves in the joy of the doing, we will never choke at the finish line. Why? Because we aren’t thinking of the finish line. Because we’re not looking at the clock. We’re not watching ourselves on the jumbotron performing the very act that we’re in the middle of. No, we’re in process. The approach is the destination and we’re never finished.

Bo Jackson, what he do? He used to run over the goal line, through the end zone and up the tunnel. The greatest snipers and marksmen in the world, they don’t aim at the target. They aim on the other side of the target. We do our best when our destinations are beyond the measurement, when our reach continually exceeds our grasp, and when we have immortal finish lines. And when we do this, the race is never over, the journey has no port. The adventure never ends, because we are always on the way. So do this. Do this and let them, let somebody else come up and tap you on the shoulder and say “Hey, you scored.” Let them run up and tap you on the shoulder and say, “You won.” Let them come to you, “You go home now.” Let them say, “I love you too.” Let them say thank you. Take the lid off the man made roofs that we put above ourselves and always play like an underdog. Here we go.

In simple terms, what Matthew McConaughey is trying to say is to not set goals that can be achievable, but rather goals that can be limitless, and while you work hard to achieve the limitless goals, you will invertedly achieve the big goals.

In business, it’s simply to dream big, and work towards this big dream. The best to portray this point is an early interview done with Mark Zuckerberg.