And your best attitude
When I was in undergrad I studied Mandarin. I took it quite seriously simply because it was a lot of fun, but also because I was studying Japanese at the same time and it was interesting to learn the kanji in both languages (I’m not sure I’d recommend this path). Well, we had a prize giving for the best students, but there was one student in my class who was Chinese-Indonesian (I remember him because he only had one name!). Dude was the kindest guy around, but his native level Chinese meant that he was guaranteed the Chinese class prize. True to form, he got it, even though our teacher said she wished I got it instead.
I think back to this time a lot more than I should. I felt really miffed by it at the time, even though the prize really doesn’t mean much at all. It makes sense why he got it. The prize wasn’t for the person who tried the most, it was for the person of the greatest ability.
This attitude has well and truly served me well, especially when it comes to learning Japanese. Don’t worry about comparisons with others. They don’t serve anyone. Worry about putting your best foot, and your best attitude, forward. Those are the things that serve you.