2+2 Rule

Numbers are impatient teachers. 2+2 Rule 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.

Strip it to the floor and you find an old instruction: look carefully, judge slowly, act decently. The new name exists because the old instruction keeps being forgotten.

The housewife with her kitchen budget runs a tighter ship than most finance departments. She knows the difference between price and cost — one is on the tag, the other is on the month.

Money is a good clerk and a terrible master; the arrangement is entirely up to us. You will meet this idea again this week, wearing different clothes. Now you will recognise it.