Some of the heaviest pressure in college has nothing to do with the actual work — it's everyone else. The classmate with the internship. The senior with the dream offer. The stranger online apparently winning at twenty. Comparison feels like motivation, but mostly it just quietly mugs you of your peace and your momentum and leaves you anxious and stuck instead of moving.
And here's the rigged part: you're comparing your behind-the-scenes — your doubts, your half-built projects, your ordinary Tuesday — against everyone else's highlight reel. People post wins, not the rejections, the 2am panics, or the months of quiet struggle behind one announcement. You're putting your full blooper reel up against their trailer. Of course you feel like you're losing. The game's fake.
Second year, Arjun was exhausted — not from work, from watching everyone. Every post about someone's internship or win made him feel smaller, and the more he compared, the less he actually did.
One day he just decided: muted the accounts that made him feel behind, stopped quizzing classmates about their offers, and started a private log of his own small weekly progress. Eyes on his own paper.
Free of the constant measuring, his energy came back. He built more, learned more, and — plot twist — ended up with results he used to envy in others. Turns out the comparison was never informing him. Just draining him.
- You compare your reality to their highlight reel. It's a rigged fight you'll always feel you're losing.
- Their progress doesn't subtract from yours. There's no fixed number of good futures to run out of.
- Compare to past-you. ‘Am I further than six months ago?’ is the only scoreboard worth checking.
This doesn't mean go full hermit. You can be genuinely inspired by people ahead of you and steal their playbook. The line is simple: if watching someone makes you want to start, keep watching. If it just makes you feel small and frozen, mute it — no guilt, no explanation owed. Your attention is fuel. Spend it on stuff that moves you forward.