The character in that video clip is not just writing to communicate any idea. His main goal is to pique a woman’s possibly non-existent interest. He invests so much energy in appearing disengaged to the subject because he is so engaged by the subject.

It’s interesting how much effort we put into appearing effortless in so many pursuits! In what circumstances do we try to appear effortless, and when do we try to show our hard work? I wonder what insights into our personalities we’d yield if we listed our varied pursuits and for each pursuit wrote either “I try hard to appear effortless in this” or “I try hard to show my effort in this.”