Every song has its own tempo. Playing yours at someone else’s speed just makes it sound wrong.

Pace is part of the thing itself, not a measure of how hard you are trying. Forced into a rhythm that belongs to someone else, work that would have been good comes out strained, and so do people. The comparison is especially unfair because you only ever see other people’s speed, never their conditions.

Get clear about what your sustainable rate actually is, in hours or output or energy, and write it down so you can argue with it later. Then plan at that rate rather than the one you wish you had. Finishing at your own tempo beats falling apart at someone else’s.