7-38-55 Rule

7-38-55 Rule sounds like something a clerk would stamp on a file. In truth it is a small instrument for thinking clearly.

The wisdom here is arithmetic, not poetry. Small inputs, repeated honestly, beat grand declarations made once a year. The figure is only there to keep you from negotiating with yourself.

The idea is simple, and like most simple ideas it is easy to nod at and hard to use. The nod is free. The use costs attention, every day, in small change.

Watch the Mumbai local at 8:47 a.m. Nobody in that compartment is lazy. Yet by evening, half the day's resolve has leaked out through small negotiations: one more chai, one more scroll, one more tomorrow.

Time is the one currency the Reserve Bank does not print more of. No ceremony needed. Begin with the very next decision.