Think of it as a delusion budget

There are countless articles, message boards and tutorials on how to cope with a boring job.

And everyone gives the same advice.

Set bigger goals, learn new skills, take on additional responsibility, help others, focus on the positive, chunk out your day into manageable tasks, and so on.

Don’t get me wrong, those are useful suggestions. But we should never underestimate the power of imagined importance. Once we shift the focus inward and change how we perceive ourselves, even the dullest tasks can become something meaningful.

Remember, meaning is made, not found. Man doesn’t search for it, he creates it. So we should do whatever it takes to feel like part of something large and more consequential, even if that’s not literally true.

For example, every morning, I sit down at my desk in the predawn darkness to write. I carve out a few hours of quiet, reflective, creative time to generate useful ideas that might improve the life of at least one person on planet earth. Even if it’s only myself.

Now, there’s no guarantee anyone will ever read the words I publish, and that’s okay. Doing that work makes me feel special. It’s a useful illusion. It’s the power of imagined importance. Shuffling papers around might otherwise feel tedious, but pretending that I’m at my command center organizing mission critical documents for a world changing initiative suddenly makes it more purposeful.

It doesn’t matter if the narrative where my contributions matter is false. Hell, my brain doesn’t know the difference.

Remember, the human brain processes imagined experiences similarly to real ones. The same neural circuits are involved in both real and imagined experiences. May as well tell myself a bigger story.

And the best part is, imagined importance requires no resources, permissions, money or major effort. Merely creativity.

Why more people don’t do this, I have no idea. Maybe they’re afraid they’re lying to themselves. Or not feeling authentic. Or maybe they’re addicted to the story about how they’re not the creative type.

It’s also possible people are afraid of being perceived as excessive, indulgent or pretentious.

That’s where resilience comes from. If you reserve at least some of your imaginative powers for your own growth, you sustain long term mental health.

Think of it as a delusion budget. Create a conscious, limited allocation for the reframing of your own reality. Ensure you have enough time, money and energy to assign importance to things that might not inherently deserve it.

Doing so provides you with the psychological cushion you need to boost morale in an otherwise chaotic and pointless universe.

By treating imagined importance like a budget, you empower yourself to use delusion as a resource, rather than seeing it as a weakness.

Which reminds me, the secretary of defense is on the other line, and I have to take this call.

The future of our nation depends on it.