Comparison inequalities
For a lot of my career I compared myself to this guy named Max Bemis. He's not a mathematician and you probably haven't heard of him. He's roughly my age and sings in a mediocre band called Say Anything that was almost popular in the early 2000s. (I don't actually recommend listening unless you like bad emo music. He and his music are also all kinds of problematic - I can't say I endorse him anymore.) When he was young, some people said he would be the next Bob Dylan. In interviews and his music he talks about this pressure to be the next great thing and it ultimately hospitalized him. Earlier in my career I envied his intensity in search of some nebulous notion of greatness, and I would always be frustrated why I couldn't be as dedicated, or a visionary, or have a JAMS paper as a postdoc. This has weighed on me throughout my career. As a result, along the way, I have also compared myself to a lot of other mathematicians. As an undergrad, it seemed lik