“I am the best!” syndrome – How common is it & what are its implications?

We all love ourselves, whether we show it or not, we definitely know it. We all also evaluate, rate, and judge our abilities constantly. A lot of people appear extremely confident and think and act in ways that shout out loud, ‘I am the best’. A lot of questions arise from this statement. Are they really the best? Is it good to think of oneself as being the best? Does this attitude help one achieve his/her goals? These and numerous other speculations and questions surround ‘I am the best’ syndrome.

Different perspectives on this kind of belief portray a different picture. We shall take a look at the Buddhist perspective and information obtained from researches based on one’s perception of oneself. The Buddhist philosophy acknowledges thoughts about oneself like ‘I am the most powerful’, ‘I am the best’, ‘I am the strongest’ and sees them as arising from our Ego. This attitude is considered to be highly self-centered and egoistic. According to this philosophy, such attitude tends to minimise our perspective and does not allow any space for taking into account other people or their views. It is thus considered to be intoxicating for one’s growth and one’s ego (self).

From an evolutionary perspective, such an attitude seems to have evolved from the necessity to establish one’s dominance; thus increase one’s chances of growth and survival in a world which caters to excellence as a major factor in survival and achievement. Recent researches have also shown Gender differences in the prevalence of this attitude. According to one such research published in Journal of Economic Psychology, men are more likely to evaluate themselves as best or better than others, than women, who tend to under-estimate their abilities.

Researchers are constantly engaging in studies to assess the desirability and result of ‘I am the best’ attitude. Economics based research has found that this attitude of supreme self-confidence helped people like astrologers and other professions involving predictions as they could market themselves better, and generate more followers even on social networking platforms. Surprisingly, they found out that the supreme sense of confidence pulled people to avail services from such professionals more than the accuracy rate of the predictions by them.

So, all that is portrayed as ‘best’ seems to get sold.. However, a gentle reminder Reminder: all that glitters is not gold!

Another research conducted with college students, who were asked to predict their accuracy on a test, showed that students who considered themselves as ‘best’ or ‘perfect’, did perform better than those who did not have such attitude. However, their prediction about their accuracy and abilities (on an average, they predicted it to be 30% higher than it truly was) was not found to be as strong as their actual performance. So, you think you are the best? ERROR: Kindly Think again.

Thus, it is amazing to love yourself but, remember that love is blind. So, let it be with you, but don’t let it mislead you. Stay confident and believe in yourself, but also remind yourself that there is always scope for becoming better.. always and thinking ‘I am the best’ at all times, and not fairly evaluating yourself, might get you in trouble.