I took a very long hiatus from MTT games due to ridiculous hours at work. Work has lighten up and am able to play more MTT's and noticed something tonight about my tournament game.

If I've built a big stack early, I tend to use the top 10 as my barometer as to how I should remain. I fall below this point and start putting myself in bad situations trying to force myself back into the top 10. I'm fine having an average stack if i've never gotten many chips. I just panic when I've come down to average after being in the top 10 in a tournament early.
1. Does anyone else get this way and if so, what do you do to stay focused?
2. In terms of M, what is really the barometer for being in a healthy situation where you can be free to play aggressively and not be discouraged in knowing that if you catch one bad hand against a smaller stack that you will be forced to tighten up considerably?