> I see my mission at work in carefully educating the overly enthusiastic co-workers by dropping a few seemingly random hints or observations that make them think and challenge their beliefs.

You see, a number of the folks on my team are what we internally call "vested". That is, they or an immediate family member have or have had cancer. They are fighting for their lives, quite literally. Someone walking around saying "you know, don't try too hard, it's probably not worth it" isn't a little annoying, it's the straw that could break the camel's back.