Biographies
by Matthew McConaughey
How do you catch more greenlights?
Matthew McConaughey kept diaries for most of his life. He took himself off alone to read them, and turned what he found into Greenlights. He calls it an approach book, full of stories from his life, bumper-sticker slogans and lessons about when to go and when to wait.
Hear a sample · read by Laura
A greenlight is anything that says go, whether a person, an offer or a lucky break. A yellow light says slow down. A red light says stop. McConaughey's point is that life sends all three, and a lot depends on how you read them and what you do next.
Every red light changes in the end. Looking back, McConaughey sees many of his setbacks as greenlights in disguise, things that stopped him and sent him somewhere better. His advice is to be patient at a red light and keep watching for it to change.
After a run of hit romantic comedies, McConaughey wanted dramatic parts. He stopped saying yes to rom-coms, even as the offers grew, and waited. For a long while the roles he wanted didn't come. Then the dramas arrived, among them Mud and Dallas Buyers Club, which won him an Oscar.
When fame or habit boxed him in, McConaughey travelled alone to places like Peru and Mali, where few people knew his face. Away from his comforts and his reputation, he could see more clearly what he valued, and what he wanted to chase next.
Greenlights
A greenlight is anything that tells you to go ahead. Some are handed to you, and some you make.
Red lights
Setbacks often turn out to be greenlights once you look back on them.
Australia
Stuck for a year in small-town Australia as a teenager, he learned to make the best of where he was.
Saying no
Tired of romcoms, he turned down every offer until serious roles came to him.
Keep livin'
His motto is to keep living. Stay in the game long enough and hard times teach you something.
A story from the book
McConaughey was headed for law school until he read Og Mandino's The Greatest Salesman in the World and decided on film school. He dreaded telling his father. When he rang, his dad asked if it was what he really wanted, then told him not to do it by halves.
Hot take · true or myth?
You can make your own greenlights.
True. Some greenlights are luck. Many, he argues, we make ourselves, by choosing what to say yes and no to, and by sticking at things.
One thing to try
Tonight, pick a setback from a few years ago that felt like a dead end. Write down what it stopped, what came after, and whether it turned green. Then pick one red light you're sitting at now, and write the first small thing you could do while you wait.
Knotd has the key ideas from 250+ non-fiction books, each in a few minutes, in plain words. Greenlights comes with a Hot Take round to make it stick.
Get the whole book on KnotdOpen in the appHow do you catch more greenlights? Matthew McConaughey kept diaries for most of his life. He took himself off alone to read them, and turned what he found into Greenlights. He calls it an approach book, full of stories from his life, bumper-sticker slogans and lessons about when to go and when to wait.
Green, yellow and red lights; Red lights turn green; Saying no to the easy yes; Going where no one knows you.
Tonight, pick a setback from a few years ago that felt like a dead end. Write down what it stopped, what came after, and whether it turned green. Then pick one red light you're sitting at now, and write the first small thing you could do while you wait.
Yes. Knotd has the key ideas from Greenlights in a few minutes, in plain words, plus a Hot Take round to test them. It's one of 250+ non-fiction books in the app.
