Pretending

# Chapter 138

“We pretend to be doing more important work, and more competently, than we really are.” Dennis Tourish

Tied closely to the previous chapter of hurry-hurry as the overriding theme of our Westerner lives, this chapter points out that few people actually have so so so very much overwhelming important work, that can properly fill each and every moment of their lives, and thus we fall into pretend, framing, posturing, telling ourselves (and everyone else that will listen) how busy we are, and thus how important we are.

This constant overclocking each minute with far more than it can contain, prevents us from acknowledging our weaknesses, and consequently prevents us from retooling, improving, or learning new things we need to keep moving forward toward the best version of us. It seems the more we cram into each minute, the more our hubris about our importance and intelligence grows, when in fact, just the opposite is true. We diminish ourselves and our capacity for the important, in step with how we allow or encourage the urgent to overtake our lives.

You must understand the difference between the important and the urgent, otherwise urgent will always triumph over the important. If we want to increase our level of important work, and improve our competence, then we must resist and filter the urgent, the loud, and that which is designed to consume our attention (there is a whole segment of writing about the attention economy, which is the bulk of the pings, dings, bells and whistles that our phones and computers sing).

Silence and quiet and thinking will garner a much higher return on accomplishing the important, than will that which is demanding our attention. Focus can carry you further than busy almost every minute.