Volume 2 · The Discipline of Hours · Essay 242

Spoon Problem

Every problem has a door labelled with its own name. Spoon Problem is such a door, and it opens.

The problem persists because it is usually treated as someone else's. Once you accept that the naming of it includes you, solutions stop being exotic and start being obvious.

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.

Think of the student the night before the board exam, and the same student the morning after results. One believes time is an enemy; the other discovers it was only a mirror.

Time is the one currency the Reserve Bank does not print more of. If this page made you think of one specific person, do not send it to them. Apply it to yourself first; that is how these things work.