Thanks. The horrible thing is I came here to say that sometimes I find a project that I did a year or two ago and end up feeling shallow and dumb.

You will be surprised how much you know. Comparing with others is almost always a losing game. Trust me because I do this a lot myself. There is always someone whom you want to be like. But remember there are a lot of people who want to be like YOU. So just focus on yourself and keep becoming a better version of you and most importantly, keep an eye on your Goals whatever they may be. Remember that there is a cost to everything. You may look at someone and say "Wow they are so smart or successful or whatever". But do you know what they don't have or what they truly desire ? You will never know. May be what they truly desire, you have it.

Embrace that feeling but reframe it. It means you've learned something and grown since you did that project a year ago.

If you looked back on work you did five years ago and didn't see room for improvement ... you've had no growth in your skills and experience.

This. Life is a constant process of reframing.

Try being a photographer. Work I delivered just a couple of years ago - or sometimes even months - makes me cringe. Those are someone’s once-in-a-lifetime event that you now think looks terrible and that you proudly posted to your social media accounts.

That’s gotten better for me in recent years, but I suppose that means I’ve somewhat plateaued. Either way you can’t win.

This is a quote I remind myself of a lot, because it's important, but for the life of me I can't find a source for Hemingway ever saying this. I think it was attributed to him before even before Kingsmen: The Secret Service but I'm not sure?

There are a lot of people who look at that past self as being something they fell away from. In some cases by choices they made and regret and in others where they suffered some accident. I'm not sure how the Hemingway quote is supposed to make them feel.

That the future can still inspire, once they account for sunk costs being irrelevant even if emotionally difficult.

This is one of those things that is both very true, and very much easier to say than do.

Agreed!

If you're so emotionally mature as to avoid the sunk cost fallacy, do you need the emotional boost of inspiration?

It's like saying "once you're happy, you're no longer depressed".

You do. Maintaining maturity can be difficult.

This resonates a lot with me. There will always be people smarter, richer and prosperous than you. Appreciate the fact that you are always going to be in a line where you'll have people better and worst than you. Being able to motivate and make small consistent improvements is the key to being a better yourself.

The first part of the quote reminds me a bit of the ted talk on leadership and starting a movement. More to the point: leaders are over glorified. Follow what you like. That's more important. I hope that the OP can see that. Find something that you like to do and follow it. It could be knitting, could woodworking, could be gardening . . .

It has done its rounds, but still enjoy watching this: https://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_moveme...

Maybe nothing noble about it, but it sure feels good to be the best at something or close to the best and respected and successful

I think that's the point Jordan Peterson has been making for a while, referencing increased serotonin released in lobsters who win fights against other lobsters, and a lowering in the ones who lose.

“Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.” ― Jordan B. Peterson

Best reply here.

Comparing yourself to others is a fool's errand. Never goes well.

But the quote isn't relevant to the way OP is comparing themself to others.

If that quote is about trying to win the race, then OP is lamenting being miles behind the leaders. The feeling of not pulling your own weight is a different sadness from "oh no I can't be the best".