Table of Contents
Book Details
| Book Name | Greenlights |
| Author | Matthew McConaughey |
| Genre | Memoir |
| Published | 20 October 2020 |
The book “Greenlights” is essentially a memoir. It’s an autobiographical snapshot of Matthew McConaughey’s early upbringing in Texas. His early career in Hollywood and ultimately where he is today. And it is told through stories and also journal entries from McConaughey from back in 1992. During the course of this book, the author Matthew McConaughey always brings up the term “Greenlight,” which is also the title of the book.
So what is Greenlight?
“An affirmation of our way.” They are approvals, supports, praise, gifts, das on our fire, attaboys, and appetites. They are cash money, birth, springtime, health, success, joy, sustainability, innocence, and fresh starts. We love green lights. They don’t interfere with our direction. They are easy. They are shoeless summer. They say OK, and give us what we want.
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Lesson 1
Red lights lead to Green lights
“The difficulties we face today eventually turn into blessings in the rearview mirror of life. In time, yesterday’s red light leads us to a green light.”
So what are green lights?
Green lights for the easy times in life. They are the blue skies, green trees. They are the keep goings and don’t change a thing. The Yellow lights and the red lights are the hard times of life. They are the winters, the depressions. They are the detours and interruptions in our lives. Red and Yellow time is the time to think. It’s time to listen. It’s time to learn.
When we are facing Red lights, we have three choices:
- Persist (push on)
- Pivot (call an audible)
- Concede (wave the white flag)
Lesson 2
Learn to run Downhill
“The art of running downhill- Don’t trip yourself while running downhill. That mountain you want to climb? It’s just around the corner. Don’t invent drama. It will come on its own.”
The author of Greenlights gives us some insight into the reality of life-changing events. In his case, the event was the massive fame he experienced days after the movie “A time to kill” hit the theatres. In the course of around 72 hours, his whole life changed. He teaches us that –
“When you experience success in your life, remember first to enjoy your success.”
Be proud of yourself and enjoy the fruits of your Labour. Celebrate your accomplishments. Good times never last forever. Victory is followed by failure, but then spring is just around the corner. That’s life. Enjoy the blue sky while they are out.
“Success does not solve your problems. It changes them.” Although success may solve some problems, it also creates some new problems, and New problems require us to grow to learn to come up with new solutions. Finally, “Success can be overwhelming sometimes we need to find space to process the changes that are occurring. “
Lesson 3
Preparation leads to Freedom
“We must learn the consequences of negligence. It’s not just what we do. It’s what we don’t do that’s important as well we are guilty by omission.”
Preparation create success because when we prepare, we have confidence. When we have confidence, we impress. When we impress, we get more opportunities. And around and around, we go the flywheel of success.
“Take every opportunity seriously. You never know when the next opportunity is hanging in the balance of your performance.”
Lesson 4
Take Action
“Sometimes WHICH choice you make is not as important as making A choice and committing to it.”
The bottom line is this action leads to opportunity. When you take action, good and bad things happen. You’ll have opportunities, and you’ll have some failures. The opportunities take you closer to your goal. And the failures teach you valuable lessons. However, when you do nothing when indecision too many options or fear causes you to freeze, nothing happens, absolutely nothing. Nothing good, nothing wrong it’s all about taking opportunities and seeing what happens.
Lesson 5
Be true to yourself
“Life is not a popularity contest. Be brave, take the Hill, but first, answer the question. WHAT IS MY HILL?”
The author doesn’t just tell us to take the Hill, but he lays out – What I believe to be a solid 3 step plan for actually taking the Hill. The first step is to define your success. what is my Hill? Matthew McConaughey’s definition of success was to stop taking the easy money, romantic comedy jobs, and begin doing films that were more stimulating and challenging for him.
The next step is to determine how to get there? How am I going to take that Hill?
No matter how much time it’s going to take. Just believe in yourself.
The final step is to Stick to plan. The author means Thake the Hill. He says this like this “If I couldn’t do it, I want it, I wasn’t going to do what I did no matter the price” Eventually, he unbranded, and after that, the work he wanted started to roll in, and he took the Hill. In so doing, Matthew McConaughey emphasizes one of the essential things in this book – GET OUT THERE AND DO YOUR THING.
Greenlights Book Quotes
” The difficulties we face today eventually turn into blessings in the rearview mirror of life. In time, yesterday’s red light leads us to a green light. “
” The art of running downhill- Don’t trip yourself while running downhill. That mountain you want to climb? It’s just around the corner. Don’t invent drama. It will come on its own. “
” When you experience success in your life, remember first to enjoy your success. “
” Success does not solve your problems. It changes them. “
” Success can be overwhelming sometimes we need to find space to process the changes that are occurring. “
” We must learn the consequences of negligence. It’s not just what we do. It’s what we don’t do that’s important as well we are guilty by omission. “
” Take every opportunity seriously. You never know when the next opportunity is hanging in the balance of your performance. “
” Sometimes WHICH choice you make is not as important as making A choice and committing to it. “
” Life is not a popularity contest. Be brave, take the Hill, but first, answer the question. WHAT IS MY HILL? ”
Bishal Saha is a Bibliophile, Writer and also has a keen interest in Computer Science. He is very fond of Literature and Technology. Bishal set out to gain more expertise and ended up carving out a niche as a Part-time Freelance Writer.
Bishal Saha specializes in Content Writing, SEO Writing, Creative Writing, Article Writing, and Proofreading to maximize the reader’s attention and catapult the product/services. He is also a Book Coach.