In the words of Naval Ravikant, "in modern life, what happens is -like- the person who is the best at doing something in the world will get to do it for the entire world...through a combination of leverage and distribution and accountability and specific knowledge"
And the problem with this, is that there is always someone better to compare yourself with.
I wrote about this some time ago, when I mentioned a photograph taken at the Solvay Conference on Electrons and Photons. The icons of modern physics are all on this photograph. So if you are one of the people on it, you can look at it in two very different ways. The first, is that if you are on this photograph, that's who you are, one of the icons of modern physics. The second, and especially if you are not Einstein, or Madame Curie, you are a loser. But how could that be?
Well, it all depends on who you compare yourself with. It doesn't matter who you are, or how great your accomplishments are, there is always someone better. So speaking about physics, let's take -for example-, Brian May. No matter who you are, you would be hard pressed to best May. I mean, he's a Demigod. Here are some of the things we can say about him:
- Founding member of one of the super-bands of the 70s
- Wrote "We will rock you" the quintessential chant for every venue
- He played one of the best solos the world has ever heard, in Bohemian Rhapsody. Want to debate? Check out Rick Beato's top 20 list.
- He made his own guitar (with the help of his father, an engineer), the Red Special
- He is an Astrophysicist, more exactly he holds a PhD from Imperial College in London, with a dissertation entitled; "A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud"
- He collects antique images that create 3D views, and as a result published a book about antique 1850s stereographs.
I mean, not even the 007 has such a varied accomplishment list. There is no way to compare with this guy.
If you have to compare something, compare notes.