This whole endeavor is rife with paradoxes, but these very tensions can be productive. The best way to remember that our contests are only with ourselves is to think less about ourselves. The best way to stop comparing ourselves with others is to think more of others. When we don’t find easy answers, it is my hope and my prayer that the Spirit will teach us of these “peaceable things of the kingdom” (D&C 36:2), even when they are hard for us to articulate.
There is no question that you and I are going to fail at many things we attempt to do, and in the eyes of those making comparisons, we all are repeatedly going to fall short. Someone else will be hired for a job, picked for the team, selected for a calling, and so on. But do not take that as a mark of your worth. Disappointments do sting, but they can also be wonderfully, albeit painfully, formative. Do not let the temptation to compare give these disappointments destructive power. When disappointments hit, take a deep breath; remember what really matters. –J. B. Haws
Principles Never Fail 