Re: “If your self-worth is tied to being better than others, then, you’re headed for trouble.”
However, lots of things in life are competitive, where you have to be better than (some) others in order to achieve your goals. Admission and merit scholarships at many desired colleges is one obvious example; in college, there is competition for grades when “grading on a curve” is done, and the competition becomes high stakes for students who are pre-med, pre-law, or attempting to get into an oversubscribed major. Getting a job is a competitive process. Keeping a job can be competitive (ask someone in an “up or out” type of job, or where forced ranking is done in performance reviews, or where the employer is shrinking for whatever reason). Those looking for a spouse are also in competition with others of the same gender and orientation.
Of course, when the competition is higher stakes, it can be more stressful and unhealthy, perhaps leading to unsavory “cutthroat” behaviors. In a broader sense, a society with less of a social safety net forces competition to be higher stakes.