Have you ever talked to one of those people who, no matter what you say or do, seem to feel the need to 1-Up you? Whether you're talking about something good or bad, they just have to be better or worse?

One of my wife's friends had an event this weekend to try to raise money for his son, who's taking a trip out of the country for a sports competition. He had initially asked his ex-wife to help, but she felt it was something that was just a pipe dream, even though it's her son as well, and thus didn't want to be a part of it. However, she said she'd come to the event since it was her son.

The event went pretty well, and there were a lot of people there, good food, and great music. Near the end of the event the wife goes to my wife's friend and said she's changed her mind. She wants to put on another event that she's going to organize and that it's going to be better than what he just did.

You see the problem here? It's not about wanting to do something good for the son, which will hopefully be the end result. It's about her feeling as though he looked good because he put on this successful event for their child, and now she feels as though she must be better to look good in the eyes of others.

Frankly I've never understood this mentality for one specific reason. That reason is that no matter what one does, their first thought should always be to try to do the best they can, to be the best they can. If that's the case, then one will be recognized by their peers and, in business, upper management because everyone likes being around someone who's proven that they can be successful, and that they give their all in everything they do.

Of course one of the downfalls is that sometimes trying to do something better means doing something that won't work. Sometimes one just have to look at something else and acknowledge that it couldn't have gotten any better. One sometimes has to learn to leave well enough alone.

How often do you have people trying to 1-Up you? Or are you the 1-Upper?