One of the first things I taught my daughters when they were learning to drive is that when you’re approaching a stop light, you have to use your judgement as to how long it’s been green.
If you’re approaching at a high rate of speed assuming that it will stay green for longer, and then it flips to yellow, you’ve got to slam on your brakes or decide to gun it… neither of which I would ever want my daughters to do.
So, you learn to look ahead, and if you see a stale green light, it’s best to let up on the gas a little, slow down, knowing the flip to yellow is imminent.
But, I must admit, being a long time driver, while I do indeed heed my own advice, sometimes I get quite annoyed by the need to slow down for stale green lights. Granted, it doesn’t take all that much longer to wait for a red light to pass, but it can be long enough to be annoying. Granted, it’s the engine that’s doing the work. It’s not like I’ve got a herculean effort in front of me if I slow down. The engine was designed to speed up and slow down with a simple press of the accelerator or the brake.
I recently finished the book “Green Lights” by the famous actor Matthew McConaughey (I’d highly recommend the audio version read by Matthew himself. R-rated. But quite funny.). In it, he discusses all the windows of opportunity, (i.e. green lights) he and his career had experienced over the years. And, I couldn’t help but reflect on the number of metaphorical green lights I’ve encountered as well. As I reflected deeper on these ‘green lights’, I noticed how many times I actually speeded up. Mainly because the extra effort, done with wisdom on behalf of those I sought to serve, compounded.
Speeding up.
Slowing down.
You never really know which is best in this game we call life. But the more of it you live and play, the more likely you’ll know the right move. Experience, as it turns out, is the great decider.
Certainly, when driving, heed the stale green light. But in life, press forward with vigor and abundance. Knowing the green light, that window of opportunity, may not be around much longer.
You’ve got one shot at this.
Make it count.
And live on purpose today.
