It's a hard knock life :(

You know what I really hate? How no matter how much you try, your efforts are all in vain (<- DBSK) if you slip up even just that one time.

For example, you could wash all the plates in the entire city, and no one would care if you left that one dirty spoon in the sink and didn't bother cleaning the basket strainer. You may have written the perfect college essay, but one spelling error, and you get put in the reject pile. You could work overtime for years, but if you slip up in just one big project, you're still getting the boot. You could do your homework every single night for months, but if you happened to forget the day the teacher's checking homework, sorry, but you're still getting a zero. You could be the best Project Manager in the history of The Apprentice, but if by whatever unfortunate circumstances your team loses, you are still most likely going to be fired!

Doesn't it suck being held to such high standards all the time? The harder you try, the more it stands out when you fail to reach your usual level of excellence. Question: why try so hard? The bigger your reputation becomes, the harder you fall. Cut yourself some slack; don't do so much. You're only making life harder for yourself, and honestly, others don't care that much. Sure, they may appreciate it once in a while when it suits to benefit them, but after a while it becomes routine to them. They start taking you for granted and will only stop to notice your failures.

Rant though I may, in the end we all just have to suck it up; afterall,

It's a hard knock life :(

Food for thought:
Have you ever felt similarly? Maybe overworked and/or unappreciated?
What do you do to unwind?