That of Greatest Importance

Reminder: Life is too short to be wasted on things of less than the greatest importance.

I was reminded of this (yet) again yesterday, through the comparison of days and issues between myself and others. No need to discuss or worry about the details - what was self evident was the fact that while some are dealing with matters of import, others of us (that'd include me) are dealing with matters which are not.

Importance is not something that is constant from person to person, of course: they can be different (significantly so) between two people, involving two different things in which each individual might say "How is the that important?" - the difference, let us say, between a doctor and a farmer, both of whose work is vitally important (food and health matter!) but both who exercise this important work in different ways and realms.

But that, of course, is not what I am talking about.

It's the matters which are not important but are given the illusion of importance that are the problem.

Illusions of importance? These are typically generate by two things: 1) By others, who are trying to pour their sense of importance (because it is their task) onto us; or 2) Our fooling ourselves into believing that the things we are working on are important, when in fact they are not.

In writing and thinking, I originally thought that #1 was the greater problem; I spend a great deal of my day (and life) dealing with the "important" issues of others which so often don't matter into next week, let alone into next year. In fact, in the industry I work in this is a terrible problem: I can count on the number of bones in my body the "emergency" situations I've been called on to resolve "right now" which didn't have any impact in a year, let alone the long run. Certainly it is more difficult to argue importance with dogs baying at your heels about their needs and their wants (actually, in using that phrase I insult dogs. Dogs are usually pretty direct about their needs - and pretty happy when they are filled).

But in thinking about it, I think maybe #2 - us fooling ourselves - that is the greater and more insidious issue.

We have (as many wiser heads than I have noted) the capacity to infinitely delude ourselves; we can convince ourselves that we are the smartest person in the room (but only in an empty room), that we are incredibly attractive and should be able to wear Spandex (no comment), that we are doing the right thing (when in fact it is the convenient thing). We, if we are not careful, are the least reliable judges of ourselves and our motives. Likewise, we can convince ourselves that what we are doing is of greatest importance when this is not the case.

Why? Because we do not examine our own thoughts and motives as critically as those which are brought to us by others. Too often we believe that which interests us or is best for us is the most important thing that we should be doing. Rare and precious is the individual who can look at their own live and objectives and say "Is this really the most important thing I can be doing now?" - and act on that information.

Because oft times the most important thing we can do with our life is not the thing we are working on right now - or contrariwise, it is the thing that we are working on right now, except we don't "feel" that it comports with what we want.

Brian Tracy asks the question in several of his books "What is the most important thing you could and should be doing - right now?" Stephen Covey asks the question "What one thing, if done excellently, would have the greatest impact on your life right now?"

What is that thing - for me, for you? What is preventing us from doing that? Is it a true impediment - or is it merely ourselves?