When I started in graphic design, I was often struck with jealousy that other designers got to do high-profile jobs for brand-name clients with huge budgets and award-winning photography. "Their professional lives must be so much more glamorous and exciting than mine," I thought as I made the eighth round of changes to a two-color brochure or changed all the percent signs to "percent" in a 200-page report.

Now that I hang with the interaction design crowd, it's easy to fall in the same trap. If all you know about people is their Twitter feed or blog, it looks like everyone else is giving a talk at SXSW or posting an article on Johnny Holland or has just snagged a six-month, $100k client or launched a new search engine paradigm.

By comparison, my work life seems dull and uninspiring. "Why don't I have a thousand Twitter followers?" I think. "How come I don't have a Rosenfeld Media book in the works?"

Here are a few rebuttals to the bad voices in my head:

1. Social media is a highlights reel. Most of us are trying to promote ourselves so OF COURSE we're going to emphasize the positive and not dwell on the negative. Who likes a whiner? Optimism is always more popular. Spending a lot of time reading other people's feeds can exacerbate depressive thinking because it creates the false impression that everyone else is blissfully happy and fulfilled.

2. Everyone has to do grunt work some of the time. Of course, what you consider grunt work I might view as fun and glamorous. Any element of a job can turn into a drag if it becomes mindless enough.

3. You are what you Tweet. Why let everyone else have all the fun? Why not post how excited you are about the card sorting exercise you just conducted or the clever way you solved a design problem? Pretty soon others will be envying you. Plus, the more you express enthusiasm and appreciation for your work, the more you'll come to believe it yourself.

4. Appreciate what you've got. As I mentioned to a friend recently, I have terrific clients. They don't always have the sexiest work, but they truly appreciate what I do and over the years many have come to be friends, not just business associates. That's worth a lot more to me than glamour or prestige.

Now that I've put things back into perspective, if you'd like to keep up with my glamorous, fulfilling, sexy job and hear about the cool and inspiring people I hang out with, please follow me on Twitter!

[ Kim Bieler wrote this article and she welcomes your comments. ]