Lady Whirls,
Lister, I tell my students something similar, very early on. The difference it makes is precisely...nil.
Most pilots are competitive high achievers, and even if something isn't a competition, they'll somehow make it into one.
It may be for some but are you sure that there isn't a measure on insecurity here. I would suggest that most folks coming to pilot training are probably very proficient at other things in life, such as driving a car. Then suddenly after a long break from learning, they are thrown into a new situation where they think they are doing something badly & start to worry that they've lost the ability to take on new skills. In these cases it would be reasonable to seek reassurance by asking "Am I as good as everyone else?".
Of course we'll always have those who say "Solo? Piece of duff. I was so good at the taxi on my first lesson, the instructor hopped out at the hold point and let me take it from there" but their words will probably float past and be totally ignored. It's the guys who say "Actually, it took be about 15/20/25 hours" that will be taken into mind with the recipient mentally saying "Phew...at least it's not just me"