No, MY Day Was Worse Than Yours

Self-reporting,  particularly when it comes to self-reporting how hard we work, is for some reason a topic I've been really interested in lately.

I was already convinced, even before reading this article from the Wall Street Journal called Overestimating our Overworking, that most people [including myself at times] are wildly inaccurate in terms of how much they think they work vs. reality.

Now comes another little gem from the Journal, Misery Poker: It's One Game Worth Losing.  It's about the one-upsmanship taking place between co-workers, friends and spouses ... whose life [home and work] is tougher?

I particularly like this passage [and the image in this post, credited to David Gothard]...

Some say the pressure may be turning us into narcissists: To protect ourselves, we push others away. "It's 'Hey, I'm tap dancing as fast as I can, so if you think you have problems, take a look over here,' " says Ed Dunkelblau, a psychologist and director of the Institute for Emotionally Intelligent Learning in Northbrook, Ill.

Comments

[Dave N]

Speaking of one-upsmanship, didn't you once give a $XXX wedding gift to a friend and get a wedding gift of $XXX+1 in return for your wedding?

[Ian]

Actually, I gave him a ridiculous amount of money (relatively), knowing we were getting married soon thereafter and that he would reciprocate with the exact same amount.