I may have to respond to this challenge myself. However, for the brief version of my point of view. No, you do not need to try harder. If you're happy and comfortable with who you are and what you do, that's all that matters.

I grew up in an acheivement oriented environment and competed in track and gymnastics. For me, silver is the worst possible thing imaginable! It means I was close enough to the win to taste it and there's nothing worse than seeing the cake, smelling the cake, having the cake set down in front of you and then seeing someone else have it. It made me hyper-competitive and not a very happy or nice person. Whatever I did, I HAD to be #1. Granted, I very rarely wasn't, but that's not the point. It became a vicious cycle of defining my worth based on comparing myself to others.

I'm over it now, but it took a long time. I run my own race these days and don't care what's at the end of it.