Replacing a negative nominalised verb with a ない-form > > Do not compare yourself to other people, compare yourself to your past self. Without any change in meaning, (though I guess it would be less formal in tone), could the writer have just used the - form of instead of nominalising it and then negating the nominalisation? >

sounds a bit strange...

The negation is not the act of comparing, but the whole action of comparing to others.

In this sentence also gives an impression of strong advice or suggestion, as well as introducing an alternative. Perhaps , , or might have been used instead.