If your opponent's ability same as you, you'll not have pressure when you get on with him.
One day you find your friends are better than you, maybe this time you begin to self-examination you have done before, and you will think of how to study hard to improve yourself.
When we live in a comfortable environment, we could not think what we can do for tomorrow.
Only when we live with pressure, maybe we think about how to change ourselves. When we meet difficult, we will think of what to do.
Why we not think or do like that early? So, I tell myself that I need to keep a diary and self-reflection everyday.