The way I reckon things in this life is you're going in one direction or another. you're either getting bigger or you're getting smaller you're getting stronger or you're getting weaker. if you want to get stronger, if you want to get bigger, if you want to get better, you need to compare yourself to something. otherwise you have no way of knowing which way the change is going. Taking rest is allowed. rest is necessary to rebuild muscle and to get more willpower. resting is okay but too much rest is bad just like too much work is bad. so the question comes to what do you compare yourself to. you compare yourself to yourself. there's a number of reasons for this.
If you compare yourself to yourself, then you don't have to worry about big fish in the pond. the only fish you're comparing yourself to is about the same size as you, so it's a fair fight. you don't have to go out and take on the biggest guy in the land. when you compare yourself to yourself you're about the same size as yourself so you stand a reasonable chance of winning.
if you compare yourself to yourself then it's a fair comparison. Comparing yourself to other people is like comparing apples and oranges. To begin with it's not fair and to follow up it doesn't make sense. other people's lives could be so much different from yours in ways that are invisible to you. In fact they probably are very different from yours in ways that are invisible to you. To begin with, their way of thinking is incredibly different from yours so it's not fair. it might not be fair to your advantage or it might not be fair to your disadvantage but it's not fair so the only valid comparison is with yourself and the only fair fight is with yourself.
if you compare yourself to yourself then you'll never feel jealous about their people. other people will be bigger, stronger, richer, more beautiful than you. not all of them but some or perhaps many of them will be. as long as you're not making the comparison it doesn't matter. then you won't be jealous of them. then you won't be envious of them. that will make you a better, cleaner person, and you'll feel better towards other people. you won't have any hidden dark feelings about them. so you'll deal with them on a more human basis.
connected to the no jealousy point is this point. If you're not comparing yourself with other people, then when they're successful you can feel genuinely happy for their success. that happiness will feel genuine, it will be genuine, and others will perceive it as genuine. This will give you better relationships with other people. It's been proven time and time again that having good relationships with people around you makes you happier. That means by not comparing yourself to others you're going to be happier.
The last point that I can think of for not comparing yourself to others is this point. you will really get better. Let's make an analogy. Olympic athletes often watch videos of themselves doing their sportastic activity. They can see their good points in their bad points. they can make a point to change their bad points or strengthen their good points. They watch other athletes performing to get new ideas. but after they get those new ideas they have to watch themselves to ensure that they are actually doing the new idea. they have to make sure that for instance their tennis serve is faster or their stride is longer when they run. Simply watching somebody with a long stride does not mean your stride will become longer. but watching yourself striding and seeing how short they are is incredibly powerful to motivate you to make longer strides. Only by watching yourself can you truly make yourself better at whatever you endeavour to do.