The Sedation of Busy Work

Deep down, we know what the real work is.

The phone call. Reworking the pitch for the umpteenth time. Redoing the research and the numbers. The thing that might not work.

But we don’t do it. Not right away.

Instead, we clean our desk.
We tinker with the fonts and images.
We attend a meeting that doesn’t need us.

It feels productive.
It feels like progress.
But it’s just sedation.

Busy work dulls the discomfort of real work.
It keeps us feeling safe, but not moving forward.

The real is scary. Uncertain. We might fail. We might be told we stink. We might be told we don’t have anything.

But it’s the only work that matters.

The rest is just anesthesia.

Are you doing the real work, or are you just staying numb?