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Intuitiveness · Days 21–30Day 27

The CEO Words · Three layers, one law

The Law of Perfecting

Jewel of the day · Herkimer Diamond. C is who she is. E is how she works. O is what she holds and increases.

Spoken on this day

Day Twenty-Seven is the Law of Perfecting. Perfecting: to make a thing thoroughly complete — per + facere, to do it all the way through. Not perfectionism, which is fear of being seen unfinished. Perfecting is the ongoing work of bringing a made thing to plumb.

It follows Production for a reason. Day Twenty-Six made the thing. Day Twenty-Seven makes it right. A woman who cannot perfect will keep producing rough work and calling it output; a woman who cannot produce will polish nothing forever. Perfecting only exists after something has been made.

The Adventure CEO begins correctible — contrite, able to be corrected, able to correct constantly. This is the humility that makes mastery possible. She is not defended. She sees by envision what to do, she enquires, and she changes the dial and therefore the outcome. What she holds is an overview — one view of the whole, from above.

The Architect becomes corrective. She is no longer only able to be corrected; she constantly makes better. And she does it by emend — a word for repairing a text or a record: to remove the fault from the thing itself rather than to argue about it. What she holds now is the outline. She IS the outline: the structure others build to, the frame that says where every part belongs.

In the Sovereign she simply becomes correct. She lives in being correct — settled on it, making it plumb, and enjoying it when it is foundationally sound. There is a rest in this that the earlier layers do not have: the pleasure of a true line.

And she sees by envisage, which is not envisioning. Envisioning shows the finished picture. Envisage shows the steps — it faces the thing and lays out how it will actually be reached, one stage at a time. Vision at the beginning of the law; the staircase at the end of it.

So correctible becomes corrective becomes correct. She envisions, she emends, she envisages. Overview becomes outline becomes overviews — plural. She now oversees: she has the whole of many things in view at once, and increase comes from seeing and overseeing.

Layer One

Correctible · Envision · Overview

Layer Two

Corrective · Emend · Outline

Layer Three

Correct · Envisage · Overviews

Layer One

The Adventure CEO

The Novice · She makes a thing profitable

She becomes correctible — contrite, undefended, able to correct constantly. She sees what to do by envision, she enquires, she changes the dial and the outcome changes. What she holds is one overview of the whole.

C

The Attribute · WHO she is

Correctible

adjective · attribute of God

Able to be corrected and able to correct — the contrite, undefended woman, which is the only kind who can be perfected.

teachablefixableopenhumbleadjustableamendablecoachablecontritewillingimprovable
  1. 01Capable of being corrected, set right or made true
  2. 02From corrigere — to make straight together, to bring to rule
  3. 03Teachable; open to being shown a better line
  4. 04Contrite — willing to be wrong out loud
  5. 05Not defended, and therefore not stuck
  6. 06Able to correct constantly, without drama each time
  7. 07The condition that makes mastery possible at all
  8. 08Fault treated as information rather than identity
  9. 09Answerable to the plumb line rather than to pride
  10. 10Correctable in small increments, every day
More words for Correctible
E

The Execution · HOW she moves

Envision

verb · the doing of it

To see the finished thing before it exists — and by seeing it, to know which dial to turn.

pictureimagineforeseevisualizeconceiveseeprojectdream upanticipatebehold
  1. 01To picture a thing as it will be, completed
  2. 02From en- + vision — to put into sight
  3. 03To hold the finished version in view while the rough one is in hand
  4. 04To see what to do next because the end is already visible
  5. 05To enquire of the picture: what is missing here?
  6. 06To imagine with intent to build, not to daydream
  7. 07To set a standard by seeing it first
  8. 08To change the dial — and so to change the outcome
  9. 09To compare what is to what should be
  10. 10To carry the finished image as a working tool
More words for Envision
O

The Perfection · WHAT she holds and increases

Overview

noun · the office and the resource

One view of the whole thing from above — the first altitude a woman gains over her own work.

surveysummaryoutlinebig picturesynopsisreviewperspectivedigestsketchwhole view
  1. 01A general survey of the whole taken from above
  2. 02A summary that keeps every part in relation to the others
  3. 03The view that shows what is missing rather than what is loud
  4. 04Altitude over a project instead of immersion in it
  5. 05The picture that prevents a woman from perfecting the wrong part
  6. 06What she must have before she can correct anything wisely
  7. 07The whole, at a glance
  8. 08Perspective made into a document
  9. 09A map of the made thing, complete enough to work from
  10. 10Sight over a matter — the beginning of oversight
More words for Overview

Layer Two

The Architect CEO

The Builder · She builds the house that holds it

Corrective — she is now constantly making better. She emends: she removes the fault from the thing itself. And she does not merely hold an outline; she IS the outline others build to.

C

The Attribute · WHO she is

Corrective

adjective · attribute of God

Constantly making better — she does not only receive correction, she supplies it.

remedialimprovingrepairingadjustingrestorativerectifyingfixingrefiningtuningsetting right
  1. 01Tending to correct, remedy or set right
  2. 02The office that turns a fault into a standard
  3. 03Making better as a habit rather than as a crisis
  4. 04Applied to the work, never to the worth of a person
  5. 05Constructive correction — the fix arrives with the finding
  6. 06Adjustment made early, while it is still cheap
  7. 07The lens that brings a blurred thing into focus
  8. 08Not critical; corrective — criticism stops, correction continues
  9. 09The instinct to true a line the moment it drifts
  10. 10Improvement as a standing condition of her house
More words for Corrective
E

The Execution · HOW she moves

Emend

verb · the doing of it

To remove the fault from the thing itself — the scholar's word for repairing a text until it reads true.

correctreviseamendeditrepairrectifyimprovepolishadjustclean up
  1. 01To correct and revise a text, record or plan
  2. 02From emendare — e- (out) + menda (fault): to take the fault out
  3. 03To repair the document rather than defend the draft
  4. 04To make a small, exact change that restores the meaning
  5. 05To improve by removing error, not by adding decoration
  6. 06The editor's act: line by line until it is right
  7. 07To work on the thing instead of arguing about the thing
  8. 08To fix quietly, and keep the record clean
  9. 09To amend with precision — the least change that makes it true
  10. 10To leave a version behind that no longer needs excuses
More words for Emend
O

The Perfection · WHAT she holds and increases

Outline

noun · the office and the resource

The structure itself — she does not carry an outline, she has become the outline others build to.

frameworkstructureplanskeletonshapecontourblueprintlayoutschemeframe
  1. 01The frame that shows where every part belongs
  2. 02The edge that defines a shape and excludes everything else
  3. 03A plan reduced to its load-bearing lines
  4. 04The order of the work, written before the work
  5. 05What makes a thing possible to finish, because its parts are known
  6. 06The skeleton a house is hung on
  7. 07Structure given away so others can build to it
  8. 08The standard in visible form
  9. 09A woman so ordered that people take their shape from her
  10. 10The overview, now drawn as a frame
More words for Outline

Layer Three

The Sovereign CEO

The Queen · She increases the estate

Correct — she lives there, settled, plumb, and she enjoys a thing when it is foundationally sound. She sees by envisage, which shows every step rather than only the picture. What she increases are overviews: seeing and overseeing.

C

The Attribute · WHO she is

Correct

adjective · attribute of God

True, plumb, foundationally sound — and settled in it, with the quiet pleasure of a straight line.

righttrueaccurateexactpropersoundprecisefaultlessplumbjust so
  1. 01In accordance with fact, truth or the standard
  2. 02Plumb — square to the line it was measured against
  3. 03Free from error because the error was taken out
  4. 04Settled: no longer arguing, adjusting or defending
  5. 05Foundationally sound — right where it cannot be seen
  6. 06Proper, exact, and therefore restful
  7. 07The state a corrected thing arrives at and stays in
  8. 08Right in a way that others can build on top of
  9. 09Accurate under inspection, not only at a glance
  10. 10The enjoyment of a thing that is finally true
More words for Correct
E

The Execution · HOW she moves

Envisage

verb · the doing of it

Not envisioning. Envisage faces the thing and shows the steps — each stage required to get there.

foreseeplancontemplateanticipatepicturemap outconceiveexpectproposeface
  1. 01To form a plan of a future thing, stage by stage
  2. 02From en- + visage (face) — to face a thing directly
  3. 03To see not only the end but the route to it
  4. 04To contemplate as something that will actually be carried out
  5. 05To lay out the staircase rather than the summit
  6. 06To regard a possibility as a schedule
  7. 07To picture the process, where envision pictures the product
  8. 08To foresee what each stage will cost
  9. 09To face the work squarely and describe it in order
  10. 10Vision converted into sequence
More words for Envisage
O

The Perfection · WHAT she holds and increases

Overviews

noun · the office and the resource

Plural — outlines in increase. She holds the whole of many things at once: seeing, and overseeing.

surveyssummariesoutlinesoversightperspectivesreviewsdigestsbig picturessynthesesmany views
  1. 01The whole of many matters held in view at the same time
  2. 02Outlines multiplied — every house, business and family surveyed
  3. 03The capacity that makes oversight possible
  4. 04Seeing and overseeing: the difference between a worker and a governor
  5. 05Altitude become permanent
  6. 06The estate readable at a glance, room by room
  7. 07What she can be trusted with because she can see it all
  8. 08Summaries she can hand to others so they can build
  9. 09Increase measured in scope of sight
  10. 10The perfected form of the first single overview
More words for Overviews

The Wardrobe & the Adventure · Day 27

The Hundred-Year Forest

Adventure CEO · Form

Forester's coat

oak-brown tweed

You work on a hundred-year clock.

Architect CEO · Function

Planting bar

iron

You put things in the ground on ordinary Tuesdays.

Sovereign CEO · Dominion

Warden's cape

forest green loden

You protect slow growth from fast appetites.

Where this law was proved · England & Denmark · 1807

Foresters plant oaks for ships that will be built long after their deaths

The lesson from the past

The navy's timber was planted by men who would never see a hull. Some of those oaks are standing now.

The future it opens

Plant something whose usefulness arrives after you. It changes how you spend today.

The burden Christian sets down today

The tyranny of results you can see this quarter.

From the classics · The Pilgrim's Progress

The Delectable Mountains — the long view given before the last valley.

The Classics Shelf →

Write it by hand · the day's three lines

  1. 01What am I planting for a century?

  2. 02What fast appetite threatens my slow growth?

  3. 03Whose shade am I sitting in?

Connected · Cooperative · Coordinated. Establish · Extend · Expand. Organization · Organizer · Organizations. Same law, three heights: profitable, then profitable and sovereign, then prosperous.

Proprietary planner system · Patent pending