Matthew McConaughey shares the five magic words that help him deal with nervousness

Matthew McConaughey is often seen with his calm and cool demeanor on screen, however, he has also struggled with being nervous. Recently, the actor opened up about the five words he swears by to help calm his nerves, reports TODAY. It all started when the "Interstellar" star was about to appear live on a talk show in the mid-90s. In fact, it was host Jay Leno, who gave him advice that he still holds on to today. "He comes into the greenroom and goes, 'You nervous?' I go, 'Yeah,'" McConaughey recalled. "He goes, 'It's easy.' You ready for the recipe on how to handle this?'"

Leno uttered the five words that McConaughey still swears by today, "Just want to be here." The actor added, "I remind myself of that all the time, 'Wherever you are, just want to be here.' If you want to be where you are, you're kind of like, 'Well great.' It makes it easy."

However, that doesn't mean the actor never gets nervous it's just that he's learned to deal with it in a better way. In fact, he actually appreciates the jittery feeling. "If I don't have those butterflies, then I get concerned. 'Maybe I'm being complacent, maybe I'm being arrogant, maybe I'm trying to oversee the situation like, 'I'm above this. I got this.' Then I won't be present," he explained, adding that being "nervous is a good thing."

It's a lesson he's projecting in his new children's book, "Just Because," which is about dealing with contradictory feelings and complicated emotions. Acknowledging that contradiction and moving through it is essential, he says. "If you admit, 'I'm nervous and I'm excited,' that inherently breaks the contradiction and becomes something much more valuable, which is a paradox," McConaughey explained, saying that he "talks to his kids all the time" about that life lesson.

The "Dazed and Confused" star married model Camila Alves in 2012 and the pair have three children. "My eldest (Levi) teaches me consideration daily. He's extremely considerate," the "True Detective" actor revealed. "My daughter (Vida) has taught me leniency and forgiveness. She'll put you in jail, but she'll give you the key to get out of the cell when she puts you in." The Academy Award winner said his youngest, Livingston, taught him about the power of absolute determination. He "gets extremely focused, and when I see that look in his eye, I already know, 'Today, he's gonna play great' or 'he's gonna nail this.' And he does, whoosh."

While the 53-year-old is known for his stellar performances on screen, his favorite role is being the father to his kids. "It's the one thing I've always wanted to be," he told GQ in November 2014. He also said, "Never is a man more of a man than when he is the father of a newborn." The "Dallas Buyers Club" actor also admitted how he has changed as a person after becoming a father. He said, "Bam! And the clarity of that is like, 'Whew.' I definitely got more selfish. And at the same time, I think I got more compassionate, which don't always go together, you know?"