What's not mentioned in the article is that grumpiness is also associated with self-criticism. Look, I am a grumpy and cynical person in general. I play the pia

What's not mentioned in the article is that grumpiness is also associated with self-criticism. Look, I am a grumpy and cynical person in general. I play the piano as a hobby. I've played for almost 25 years at this point. Many people compliment me on my playing, and objectively, perhaps they're right. However, when I hear myself, I can't stand it. It drives me up the wall, and as I play, in my mind, I still sound like the five year old whose parents just enrolled him in piano lessons. It sounds bad to me continuously, but others seem to like it (and I've also won awards and such, so i know it's not just poor taste on my listener's parts). But really, this kind of unfulfilable self-expectation leads to more practice, more doing, and more motivation. It's hard to motivate yourself when you think you're already the best at what you do (or are happy with however good you are right now). When you cannot stand the way you sound on the piano though, and you keep practicing to reach a the metaphorical carrot, then you naturally get better.