What is a green light? It’s a signal to put the pedal to the metal, and you can take your foot away from the brakes. When you driving and you hit one greenlight after another, it means you’ll get where you want to be much faster. There are a lot of metaphors that can be applied to greenlights.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby,” the green light symbolizes hope, dreams, and the future. For Gatsby the green light represents a beacon of his aspirations for achieving his dreams of wealth, prestige, and Daisy. In Matthew McConaughey’s book “Greenlights,” a green light symbolizes a moment of alignment, affirmation, or opportunity in life. It’s a metaphor for moving forward with confidence, seizing opportunities, and following one’s path or purpose. When McConaughey refers to “catching greenlights,” he means embracing these moments of clarity and momentum, navigating through challenges, and ultimately finding success, fulfillment, and happiness. Greenlights can come in various forms, such as moments of insight, serendipitous encounters, or positive outcomes from adversity. Overall, they represent moments of positivity, growth, and progress in life.
In the story he references his free lights as times when he decided to pursue a career in acting, winning an Oscar for his role in Dallas, when he met his wife Camila, and the risks he took when embracing uncertainty. The “outlaw wisdom” McConaughey shares is digestible, relatable, and a book I listen to every year since it’s come out. Remembering the principles of taking risks aimed towards your goals, recognizing opportunities, and being authentic will fast track you through greenlights. I highly recommend the audiobook over reading the hard copy, the reason being McConaughey puts his soul and skills as an actor into narrating his life story. Overall the story and the quality of narration make it a ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ experience.
What greenlight moments have you had? Maybe it was a date, the discovery of a hobby, traveling to a new country, reading a book, making a new friend, or watching a master at their craft. This is a personal exercise to ponder or journal, and in the process you may rekindle forgotten passions. In the process of compiling mine I began to notice a pattern. Here’s my list of greenlights:
🚦 In Kindergarten and 1st grade I was fascinated with ancient Egypt. I enjoyed reading about their gods, learning what their different hieroglyphics meant, and their architecture. I even had my own mummification doll with an accompanying book that described the process. A bit graphic for a young Egyptophile, but I appreciate my parents buying toys to fuel my passion. I also had stamps with Egyptian hieroglyphics on them so I could create my own scrolls. This is my earliest memory of when I was turned on by studying history. A year later I became obsessed with Indiana Jones because he made history sexy. Greenlight ✅
🚦 In 4th grade I saw a play at the Children’s Theatre of Salt Lake City and fell in love with theatre. I watched two plays that year, one was the BFG based on Roald Dahl’s novel and the other was the Canterville Ghost. Lucky for me I had supportive parents who encouraged me to audition at several theaters. I didn’t receive a call back from 2 out of the 3 theaters, and the one I got a role in was at the Children’s Theatre of Salt Lake. I started as Claude Herdman in the Best Christmas Pageant Ever. After that I was in the Adventures of Tommy Edison followed by the Great Brain. Greenlight ✅
🚦 Skipping ahead to the future, when I met my wife we dated for 2 years. She saw me at my best, at my worst, she bought into the vision I had for myself. We got married and we’re going 4+ years strong.🏃Greenlight ✅
🚦Right before the 2020 pandemic began, I was admitted into the MBA program at Utah State University. It was perfect timing, because everything shut down and everyone was stuck inside. The school also transitioned all their extracurricular clubs to be online. With the surplus time of being stuck indoors, I signed up for an absurd amount of clubs and was able to participate and get my MBA at the same time. In 2021 I graduated with my MBA and a year after had tripled my income by pursuing new opportunities. Greenlight ✅
There are many more I could list. This is a book I highly recommend and invite you to reflect on past greenlights. Doing so will help you recognize past opportunities and make you more conscious of future ones. To recognize these, remember this formula.
Desire + Vision + Opportunity = 🚦🚦🚦
Good luck on your journey and I wish all of you reading this a life full of greenlights.
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