20 Mile March

Numbers are impatient teachers. 20 Mile March gives you the figure first and the explanation later. That is usually the right order.

The number is a fence. On one side lies intention, on the other side lies habit. Most of us live on the wrong side and write poetry about it. This rule simply asks you to climb the fence.

What this concept offers is a pause — one extra beat between what happens and what you do about it. Civilisation, someone said, is measured in that beat.

Consider the farmer. He does not argue with the season; he arranges his work inside it. The city man does the opposite — he argues with every Monday and is surprised every Friday.

Time is the one currency the Reserve Bank does not print more of. That is all. A small tool, honestly kept, beats a large one admired.