To judge yourself by contrast to others is one of the most efficient ways of making yourself unhappy! Consider: if they are doing better than you, you are jealo

To judge yourself by contrast to others is one of the most efficient ways of making yourself unhappy! Consider: if they are doing better than you, you are jealous and you think badly of yourself. If they are doing worse, then you may think better of yourself, until you realize that you are taking pleasure in someone else's misfortunes, a pathetic thing to do! The alternative is to replace the relative standard of your peers' success, with an absolute standard. That could be your own past (how far have you come since x; what have you learned since x; what wisdom have you gained since x, and so on) which has the advantage of showing you ways to go forward. Or it could be a national or global standard: how wealthy, how comfortable, how skilled are you with respect to the average U.S. male of your age? Which will probably at least be flattering.