Are You Moving Fast Enough?
The Last Lion, Preamble: The Lion at Bay (Pages 16–18) by William Manchester
From Wound to Weapon
Some wounds never close. Mine and Churchill’s came from the same place — a mother who did not care if we thrived or disappeared.
By the time I was ready to strike a match and try again, there was no one left to light it for. That wound became my forge.
What was the first law I learned from it? The Law of Finite Flame — mortality is the cruelest enemy, and urgency the only friend worth having.
Churchill’s mother drifted closer as he became worth her attention. Mine kept her distance until the grave shut the door. His father had no use for him from the start; I share the same shadow. I never truly knew mine. Whether it was ignorance or apathy, the result was the same: absence that shapes you before you can name it.
His only confidante as a boy was his nanny, “Woom.” Mine was my grandmother, Reaver — the one steady voice in my early years. We share another bond: exile into institutions. He was sent to boarding school; I was sent to the Alabama School for the Deaf, where the dormitories became my barracks. Both of us were raised by regimented walls that were never home.
According to his account, Churchill was frail and an easy mark for bullies. By seven, he swore to change his nature. I carried the same vow in my gut when my day came.
He believed a man could wrestle fate into obedience. His frame was soft, but his will was iron. He fed his appetites and paid the price — heart attack, pneumonia, strokes — yet still drove himself like a warhorse.
In the famous photograph, the glare was not staged. A photographer had just yanked the cigar from his mouth. What you see is pure defiance — the face of a man who did not pose for history; it intruded, and he made sure it left with bruises.
For all his excesses, he trusted instinct over consensus. When he leapt, he landed where others had not dared to look.
When Instinct Beats the Odds
Tim Cook’s leap back to Apple in 1998 mirrored Churchill’s instinct-first strategy. Rational analysis said “stay away” — Apple was circling the drain. Cook trusted his internal compass sharpened by experience. That decision helped turn a dying tech company into the most valuable brand on Earth.
Our prehistoric wiring — built for survival before written language — still gives us an edge. In high uncertainty, instinct can cut through the fog faster than spreadsheets. Those who blend instinct with just enough analysis seize windows of advantage before the herd even sees them.
Ignore this, and you risk paralysis — stuck while rivals move, adapt, and lock you out.
The Price of Hesitation
Ignoring my instincts has been my biggest mistake. Trusting them, even when uncertain, has sped my decisions and spared me the paralysis of overthinking.
I now attack deep creative work and marketing with instinct-led speed. The trigger: a desk clock and the 25–5 rule. Drafts get 25 minutes. Edits get 25 minutes. Marketing gets the same hard limit—no polish, no retreat — only forward.
Templates, outlines, and tools are set before I start, so there is no excuse to stall. Fear of mistakes is fuel — every wrong call logged as a lesson, never as a reason to freeze.
When you move without hesitation, a strange calm takes over — the calm of crossing the finish line before the crowd even realizes you started running.
Laws Forged in Urgency
The Law of Starved Affection – Distance in love breeds hunger that can never be fed.
The Law of Wild Ascendency – The self is built, not born.
The Law of Willed Persona – Project the legend, become the legend.
The Law of Finite Flame – Life is a knife fight with the clock — cut deep before you run out of daylight.
Today’s Threshold – The Law of Finite Flame
Pick the single task that moves the needle most. Set a 25-minute timer. Work at a speed that makes your pulse climb. No detours. No retreat. Every round you win is a day stolen from the clock.
The reward is not just the result — it is the pride of knowing you will never let the clock beat you.
Prove You Can Outpace Time
If this law struck you, the McCall Canon is where we forge it into steel. Subscribe and carry the Flame with those who refuse to burn out before their work is done.
For the next week, notice where your flame is dimming. Catch yourself before the hour dies. Push one task to completion faster than you thought you could. Share the win. Share the urgency.
We sharpen each other’s blades when we race the clock together.
Mark your kill in the comments. Take the poll. Prove the Flamebearers are winning.
Next in The Last Lion Series (Monday):
How Churchill’s rare insight, fierce principles, and unmatched ability to inspire clashed with his flaws in judgment, polarizing style, and repeated rejection—until disaster forced a nation to follow him finally.
