Updated June 12th, 2023
Alright, Alright, Alright. Time for my review of Greenlights, Matthew McConaughey’s new book. (I won’t ruin it for you, but there is definitely a story in there about how the iconic “McConaugheyian” three word catchphrase came about, which may be worth the price of the book alone. (Hint: you could also just Google it. ;))
A Novel non-Novel
See what I did there? Ok, I haven’t read too many memoirs, but Greenlights is definitely unique in this regard. McConaughey shares some personal anecdotes, stories, and life lessons, so it’s part memoir, part personal development, part just entertaining storytelling.
Well, What Are these “Greenlights”?
By “Greenlights”, McConnaughey means things that set you up for success. It could be a system, habit stacking, building momentum, having small wins, etc. Here a few examples of “Greenlights”:
- Meditating in the morning
- Drinking Bulletproof Coffee (unless you have high cholesterol).
- Laying out your gym clothes the night before, so you don’t have to spend energy in the morning.
- Basically, anything that sets you up for success/makes your life easier!
What is Becoming Relative with the Inevitable?
McConaughey also uses the catchphrase “becoming relative with the inevitable” throughout the book. This phrase and idea really resonated with me. But what does it mean?
Becoming relative with the inevitable means, simply, shit is going to happen in life. That’s inevitable. Life is full of ups and downs, but in this case, we are focusing on the downs :(. When you are in a tough situation, you can become relative – that means you can persist through the challenge/adversity and keep doing what you are doing. You can pivot– change, and do something different. Or, you can concede- give up.
McConaughey says, what you do in these tough situations, and when, could help us in our own art of living. Though he call’s it livin’, without the “g”, throughout the book for some reason, probably just cause he’s Matthew McConaughey.
Greenlights is full of other cool/fun stories which I never knew about him- he shares some personal stuff which I will let you read about in the book, not on my blog.
Did you know he drove around the United States in an RV for years? He would fly out and pick up a producer or agent at an airport and drive them back home in his RV, all while discussing the movie scripts. All in a days work! But, how cool to have all that freedom!
How Many Stars?
4.5 stars 🙂
A pretty interesting and fast read if you want to learn more about him and take some of his life lessons and apply them to your own life for personal growth.
Bonus points if you read this book imaging his voice like I did!
–>Buy the book here<–
May all your lights be green!
BOOK DETAILS ONE MORE TIME
Title: Greenlights
Author: Matthew McConaughey
Publish Date: October 20, 2020
ISBN: 0593139135 ISBN-13: 978-0593139134
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Ryan’s Reading Reviews is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com