Hello Reader,

During a recent re-watch of the 1984 film Footloose, something Reverend Moore said about his daughter grabbed my attention. While having a conversation with his wife, he declared that his daughter had become “willful and obstinate.”

He said it like a curse — as if conviction were rebellion.

That moment always stood out to me. Maybe because I’ve heard those same words used to describe anyone who dares to hold their ground. We’re told that being flexible makes us easier to work with, live with, deal with. But if we bend too often, we risk forgetting where we started.

To be willful isn’t to be rigid — it’s to be rooted. It’s knowing what matters and refusing to drift too far from it.

There’s a quiet kind of strength in that — one that doesn’t shout or shove, but simply stays.

The reverend saw his daughter’s clarity as defiance, but maybe he was witnessing her direction. Her will wasn’t against him; it was for herself.

We often misread willfulness because it exposes something we’ve lost — our own alignment.

It’s easier to call someone stubborn than to admit their certainty unsettles us. But willfulness, when it’s honest and aware, isn’t obstinance. It’s integrity.

It’s how we stay whole in a world that rewards adaptation more than authenticity.

Look

Ten years ago, MrBeast scheduled a video to go live in 2025 — and last week, it finally did. You just have to see this. One of the top comments calls it “unironically one of the most inspirational videos I’ve seen in months,” and I couldn’t agree more. There’s something deeply willful about creating with that kind of patience — trusting your future self to finish what your present self started. Watch the video here.​

Listen

There’s a podcast called The Villain Was Right that playfully asks whether the so-called “bad guys” in movies actually had a point. In their Footloose episode, they revisit Reverend Moore — the man who tried to ban dancing — and explore the tension between control and conviction. It’s funny, thoughtful, and a reminder that nuance lives in the space between being right and being righteous. Listen to the episode here.​

Learn

The New York Times recently ran a story about the “996” work trend — working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week — finding new life in Silicon Valley. It’s a staggering example of how hustle culture keeps reinventing itself under different names. Even if you hit the paywall, it’s worth knowing this mindset is still alive and well — and why we need to resist it. Because when will turns into compulsion, it stops being strength and starts becoming surrender. Read the article here.​

The Final Flicker

To be willful isn’t to fight the world — it’s to move through it with a spine. Reverend Moore called his daughter obstinate, but what he was really naming was courage — the kind that doesn’t roar or rebel, only refuses to forget itself.

We need more of that kind of willfulness: the steady, rooted kind that knows how to stand — and when.

See you later,
Mike

P.S. We kick off Maximize Your Minutes on Monday. Five weeks to reshape how you work with time—are you in? Join the Fall 2025 cohort here.​

Thanks for reading. Your time is valuable, and I don’t take it for granted. In a world pulling us in all directions, thanks for choosing The Lantern.