Piggyback Effect

Everytime I get out of the shower in the morning, I look at myself in the mirror.

And I compare.

I compare how my chest looks compared to guys in perfume adverts.

I compare how bad my skin is compared to the day before.

I even compare how long my winky is to various pornstars.

It's natural. Everyone compares themselves to others.

And most of all, you compare yourself to your friends. When you look at your friends, you always try to see how you'd do against them.

And out of your friends, who would win a fight?

Who is the most attractive?

Who is the most intelligent?

And each and every time you do, even though sometimes you feel like you are miles off them, you always seem to compare. You always have one thing that they don't.

And that isn't because everyone's good at certain things. In fact, it's just because you naturally compete against your peers every day, and you naturally begin to beat them. But only just.

Which poses an interesting question.

Have we become talented and skilled at things because we have progressed on our own?

Or are we only good at things so that we can beat others?

If we hang around with people who aren't very successful at things, are we only gonna be slightly better than them?

And then if we were to start hanging around with people who are more skilled, are we likely to become naturally better so we can beat them?