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After 15 years in Hollywood, Glen Powell finally broke through, starring in smash hits alongside Tom Cruise in the billion-dollar movie \u201cTop Gun: Maverick<\/a>\u201d and Sydney Sweeney in \u201cAnyone but You.\u201d This summer, he\u2019s on screen again in Steven Spielberg\u2019s blockbuster \u201cTwisters.\u201d How is the actor celebrating his newfound success? By giving up his Hollywood Hills pad, moving back to Texas to be near family, and heading back to college.<\/p>\n Powell revealed he\u2019s now juggling his career with studying at the University of Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n He\u2019ll be commuting between Austin for exams and London, where he\u2019s filming Edgar Wright\u2019s adaptation of Stephen King\u2019s The Running Man.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cEdgar [Wright] has been very nice about letting me finish my degree in the middle of his massive movie,\u201d he recently revealed in an interview with IndieWire<\/em><\/a>, before adding that he won\u2019t be like a regular student sitting in an auditorium day-in, day-out.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re letting me figure it out [with] distance learning. And I\u2019m obviously going to be coming in, Zooming in for classes and whatnot, but I have to be back for the proctored exams. So, we\u2019re figuring that out for two or three times a semester, I\u2019ll come back for all my stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not the first time Powell has given higher education a shot: He attended his hometown University as a teenager but dropped out to pursue his dream of making it in Hollywood.\u00a0<\/p>\n Over the years, he has taken classes to get the credits he needs to graduate. He had initially planned to graduate this past spring, but then his career exploded.<\/p>\n Going back to school may seem like a lot of effort for someone who is already on an upward trajectory, to say the least.\u00a0<\/p>\n But even Amazon\u2019s CEO Andy Jassy has noted that the single differentiator between those who eventually stagnate and those who continue to enjoy success for years to come is being eager to upskill.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to be ravenous and hungry to find ways to learn,\u201d the 56-year-old Amazon<\/a> boss said. \u201cThe second you think there\u2019s little left for you to learn is the second that you are unwinding as an individual and as a learning professional.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTry to get better, even a little bit better, every single day, every single week that you come into work,\u201d Jassy concluded.<\/p>\n Even 20-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer <\/a>has admitted, \u201cI didn\u2019t get where I got on pure talent alone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He may not have gone back to school per se, but he credited his success to constantly never getting complacent and constantly learning new tricks to outwit his opponents: \u201cMost of the time, it\u2019s not about having a gift. It\u2019s about having grit.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Federer, Powell\u2019s pursuit of becoming a UT alumni despite having cemented his status as a Hollywood star is a lesson in perseverance. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so close, I can taste it,\u201d he previously told the Hollywood Reporter<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Powell moved to LA at 19 to become an actor. Now that he\u2019s made it, it may seem counterintuitive to leave Hollywood behind at the age of just 35 years old.<\/p>\n But it was megastar and fellow Texan Matthew McConaughey who advised Powell that the ability to switch off is key to sustainable success.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s like, \u2018Hollywood is the Matrix, man. You plug in and it\u2019s all fake world\u201d Powell told THR<\/em>, while adding that McConaughey said he goes to \u201cunplug\u201d in Austin where his family and friends are.<\/p>\n Now Powell is adopting a similar ethos, which he thinks makes him better at his job.<\/p>\n \u201cI love this town [Hollywood]. I love this business,\u201d Powell expanded in IndieWire<\/em><\/a>. \u201cComing here for little chunks of time and doing all the stuff I need to do here, it\u2019s great\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI just think that, on a bigger level, you have to listen to your own head and your own heart on how to stay sane and how to stay fresh, creatively fresh,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n \u201cIn terms of filling up the pieces of me that need to be refueled between projects and doing stuff like that, that\u2019s all Austin for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nUpskilling is key to success<\/h2>\n
Matthew McConaughey advised him to ditch Hollywood<\/h2>\n
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