Concept
The rate pole
Planting faster than you can tend. Commitments multiply rather than add ('s rule arithmetic), so the wall arrives suddenly; and the response to overload is *more* commitment, because compensatory control reaches for the feeling of agency and a fresh start supplies it while grinding through a half-built thing does not. Tell: excitement tracks recency of commitment. Where it reads as a snare, the lever is rule-level (a standing limit), never a schedule or a buffer. Deliberate overproduction is the same Tending read as a lifeline — one sign is whether an exit was built in.
Where it appears
Treated in
- Part One — Why This MattersComplicated or ComplexA jet engine and a pond both have many parts. Only one of them has a feedback loop — and only a complex system can ever produce a Third Thing.
- Part Two — How to PracticeThe Sacrifice TrapGrind now, live later is a trade that never pays out. A meditation for the moment you catch yourself making it.