If you’re the most driven person in your circle, it’s time to add a few people to it.

You calibrate to the room without noticing. When your effort is the high bar, average starts to feel like a lot, and you stop reaching because nothing around you is reaching. Nobody has to be a bad friend for this to happen.

Adding people is not the same as replacing them. Find one space where you are not the most serious person present, whether that is a team, a summer program, or a group online that actually builds things. Go be the least experienced one there for a while.