The sweet spot of blagging

Many people say they sometimes feel like an imposter.

And all of us are to some extent "pretending". No one "naturally" puts on a suit and gives a presentation on the Q3 sales figures. We all play a part and mostly we don't want or need total honesty or transparency about everything you might think or feel. 

Few people, by definition, are the world experts in anything. And no one knows everything. 

Strictly speaking, no same person stands in the same river twice. You have changed. The river has changed. But if you are always only doing the same thing in the same way, you might might be very good at always getting it "right" but you might be ripe for replacement by a robot. Maybe you should risk giving something else a go? There may be an easier or better way of doing the thing you do well in your usual way. 

Of course you should (almost!) never lie. (That's a different blog post).  

And some specific matters of detail matter a great deal. A legal or technical point could make all the difference between jail or explosion and it can be very important to check very thoroughly. This is an area where blagging must be shunned, exposed and deplored. "Of, yeah, I'm confident, don't worry, it'll all be fine" is sometimes very far from good enough. 

Often it is good to admit ignorance and ask for help. A reasonable person can be impressed with, "Good question! I'm not 100% sure. Let me go and check that and I'll get back to you this afternoon with the definitive answer." 

We need to learn to live with a degree of uncertainty and flexibility because the universe demands it. 

Take the world I know best. One might say in a sermon, "The Bible never mentions X". Well, I have read the Bible several times. I may well know. But perhaps the only way to be totally sure is to read the original languages looking for X. Searching and English version can let you down. And secondary literature can sometimes be misleading. The Bible may not mention X, but it may include something which amounts to X, or implies X. But this level of checking would normally be excessive and silly. 

Some kinds of preparation are unnecessary. Quite likely most people don't need to write out every part of every speech, presentation or sermon word for word. 

And some types of preparation can even be counter productive. If you do write out your talk word for word, you may be tempted to read it out in a rather boring mechanical manner. Perhaps better to throw away the full text and preach from notes. An extra step of preparation! 

We may rightly reject the language, but there is a sweet spot of blagging which accepts ordinary certainty, and sometimes good enough over perfection, and which allows space for risk, creativity, giving it a go and getting on with what needs to be done now the best I can.

If something is worth doing, it is worth doing adequately.