Why bad-tempered people earn more and live longer
Just some thoughts:<p>High achievers are frequently perfectionists. Perfectionism is a good eye for details on the basis of very high standards. We know the downsides of perfectionism (e.g. black &amp; white thinking, more difficulties to work towards 80&#x2F;20 if necessary), but it is still an excellent basis for achieving great work.<p>There seems to be less cognitive load in keeping up perfectionism &#x2F; high standards simply all the time; in comparison to deciding whether perfectionism is useful in each individual situation.<p>Therefore many high-achieving people will keep up their perfectionist attitude all day, for all things they encounter in life.<p>Unfortunately, few things in the world are perfect, or well enough under their control to become perfect.<p>Hypothesis: The bad temper of many good workers and high achievers comes from perceiving everything in life with the black &amp; white pattern of perfectionism in a non-perfect world.<p>This both drains their energy and can make them appear a little dissatisfied.