Volume 3 · The Corner Cabin · Essay 209
Relapse Prevention Model
A model is a toy version of the world, built so you can afford to make mistakes in it. Relapse Prevention Model is a sturdy toy.
Remember that every model lies a little. The question is never 'is it true?' but 'is it useful here?' Used with that humility, this model earns its shelf space.
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.
The best school principal is visible at the gate in the morning and invisible during the teachers' period. Presence at the right hour, absence at the right hour — that is the whole craft.
An organisation is only a group of people who have agreed, for now, to pull in roughly the same direction. The idea has done its job if, the next time it happens to you, you smile before you react.