Garrison Keillor said it best in his oft-quoted sign-off, "Well, that's the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."
In the Christian tradition, it's good to be "humble," as in Matthew 11:29 where Jesus says “I am gentle and humble in heart.”
Humble people, psychology researchers argue, see themselves clearly, knowing their strengths and weaknesses and not exaggerating either. Such self-awareness isn't especially common. Overconfidence is a big problem.
Men tend to overestimate their ability as investors, compared to women, and the most confident rack up losses.
Prisoners see themselves as more honest than average. In one recent study of 85 people in a British prison (aged 18 to 34, most jailed for violence or robbery) the prisoners overall said that they were more moral, kind to others, self-controlled, compassionate, generous, dependable, trustworthy, and honest than an average prisoner--and the "average member of the community."
Can that be true? Probably not. So be careful if you think you're outstanding in one particular way. Unless you have plenty of proof, the opposite may be true.
One of the least compassionate people I'd ever known used to boast about her compassion. I knew someone who considered himself a "genius," He could do some technical things very well but in other arenas seemed to have trouble thinking. I often saw him go blank and forget details as if he were elderly, though he was only 45. He admitted that he was worried about his memory, and it seemed obvious that his sense of superiority was a way of consoling himself for deficits.
As an editor, I get nervous if a writer tells me that his work is very good. Better writers have been humbled by the process. They're more likely to say, "I've done this well and these four other things not so well."
This doesn't mean you should constantly criticize yourself. It implies that you should look for objective criteria. Set goals and meet them. Accept that you are average in lots of ways--simple math suggests that this will be true--and stronger in some respects and weaker in others. This may make it easier to tolerate other people's weaknesses and feel less envious of their strengths.