Volume 4 · The Ledger and the Loom · Essay 280
The Triple-A Approach
The Triple-A method asks for a little discipline and returns a lot of peace. A fair trade, by any ledger.
The method fails only in one way: people read it, nod, and return to the old habit. The technique is not the hard part. The hard part is Tuesday.
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.
Consider the chit fund in a small town. It survives not on contracts but on the shame of defaulting before neighbours. Reputation is the oldest collateral in India.
Money is a good clerk and a terrible master; the arrangement is entirely up to us. That is all. A small tool, honestly kept, beats a large one admired.