Some folks never exaggerate – they just remember big. Audrey Snead
If one were to ask a student his/ her marks in an exam or ask the same question to their parents, more often than not, you would get an answer that actually rounds of the total overall percentage to the next highest round figure. E.g. some who got 73.25 % might say I got around 75%. While this might not be an exaggeration, there is a definite tendency to make the marks look even better than what it really is. Occasionally we lapse into the same syndrome when we enviously lavish praise on someone for their dress sense or looks particularly emphatically if they happen to be major influencers in your career like your boss’s wife or the boss himself.
While exaggeration would imply grossly distorting the facts or reality and padding it up so as to put on a favorable façade, remembering big is more in the nature of letting slip a more pleasing reality like a lady putting on make up and sprucing up for an event. Look at our daily conversation. Observe how often we distort facts with our own interpretations, comments, choice of words and tone. Try dropping your voice in a conspiratorial manner and say the sentence ‘she is a nice lady’; now do the same with a mischievous wink thrown in; and finally just say the same sentence with all the good intent of speaking about Mother Theresa. Observe the reactions and responses of those listening to you.
Then there are others who will pretend to downplay things in the fond hope that you will notice them down playing it. This allows them to keep up a modest facade while secretly coveting your envy and surprise. These people are the ones who think big in a subtle way. Some of us are guilty of remembering big simply because wefind it hard to accept the reality that we are privy to something new for the first time. Take the case of an egoistic (also see the post on EGO http://poweract.blogspot.com/2010/03/ego.html) interior designer who is shown some new revolutionary designs of furniture and upholstery. His ego won’t permit him to admit that he has never seen such wonderful things and so he remembers big and loudly proclaims that he has seen better stuff or that he has experimented with the displayed stuff quite a while ago.
Remember: “There are some people so addicted to exaggeration that they can’t tell the truth without lying.” Josh Billings
Try these:
- Make it a point to be aware and notice the exaggeration and tall talk made by people when you are in a social situation. Also notice how people are keen to articulate their views on a topic without paying attention to the views being propounded by another person.
- One of the common technology driven social interaction is swapping SMS jokes. How often do you get or sent lewd SMS jokes? Do we have the tendency to send such SMS because we want to tell others how our jokes are smuttier than theirs or how we can be one better than them when it comes to sending SMS? Do you think this is a version of our own way of thinking big and / or exaggerating our own sense of one-upmanship?
This post is courtesy www.actspot.com
You are also invited to visit our weekly Inspirational and Motivational Blog www.poweract.blogspot.com
