Greenlights - Matthew McConaughey

# The book

This is the story of the actor Mathew McConaughey. I knew he was a good man (by which I mean someone who thinks deeply about himself), but what I did not know and hence learnt, is how he did it. This is not a tutorial, this is not a “look-at-me-I-am-so-great” type of flex, he’s been genuinely self-reflective. The book is about finding opportunities, greenlights as he calls them.

# The idea

Its about finding the right time to lock in, to barge in and more importantly, to leave, to deny. You see, if you keep following what others tell you should, then you will become what others want you to become. To deny, to sit without a job, to watch your contemporaries get all that success by whatever metrics you define that, is what hitting a greenlight is.

Now don’t get me wrong, sitting at home like a lazy ass dude is not something to be proud of, and not what I meant before. There is only one scenario in which you hit the greenlight of saying no, that is when you know what you want… Otherwise, you’re just wasting your life. Think about it, do you know what you want? Are you ready to go all in? Are you even looking for opportunities in that, or are you happy when you are? Now there is no problem with being happy with your current situation, to each their own, but there is a reason why the people you end up remembering were the people who were always pushing themselves (and as a consequence probably pushing others out).

They know what they want. When I read the book, I didn’t know what I wanted, and now too, I am not 100% sure (maybe like 80% sure, rest 20% is just me being extremely scared that I will end up being nothing but a fuck, which I probably will). But I saw how he did it, and how he knew what he wanted. You know, this is the reason why I read autobiographies, every life is a story (“How can you have lived and have no story to tell”), and what better novel to read and learn from than a person’s own mind. Because when you realise that this is actually true, and this happened, and this CAN BE DONE, it changes something in you.

I didn’t really make goals after reading this as he had. I am not chasing myself 10 years in the future, but this did give me an idea about what I can potentially be, about what doors I can potentially open, and how I can… breathe… Give it a thought, the answer to all questions will come, is it a hut in the woods? Is it a trek in the mountains? I don’t know, even he didn’t know, so you know what he did? He went and found out. Now he’s written about it, and I won’t tell you if it worked. Because even I don’t want to know.

I want to find out for myself. (Yeah, I read that part, I tried to erase it from my memory and now when I go hiking up the Appalachian trail, I will revist and find out how wrong I was, but then it’ll be too late and I’ll be watching the sunrise and packing up my tent and breathing and living).

# Summary?

So, to summarize, I guess, you could say, know what you want, think, think and think, if you don’t know yet; learn from your mistakes, find things out, only then you’ll know to say no, and only then you will hit greenlights.

Life is not a popularity contest. Be brave, take the hill. But first answer the question.

Good luck with your life. Make it large.