The following Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Marksissons and is narrated by Brock Armstrong.

The pros and cons of comparing yourself to others. After all these years, I still find it interesting how lessons

from my athlete days can pop up in other areas of life. In my competition era, for example,

one of the things that helped me continually better my performance was a well-honed, disciplined,

inner focus. In the deep reaches of a marathon,

I better be focused on myself. That doesn't mean I never had awareness of where other people

were in relation to me, although those moments happened too. It means I couldn't afford to spend

my energy outside of myself in those grueling hours.

In a game of mind over matter, you learn not to waste critical mental resources.

Focusing on others and getting diverted by comparison would have been one of those perilous mistakes.

Your race isn't about other people and where they are. It's about your training, your focus, your pacing, your state of mind.

Some folks can come up with a plan that they've developed over months but get thrown off course

by paying too much attention to other people's approach.

Suddenly they've expended more energy than they're used to in the beginning sections of a race,

and now they've lost touch with their rhythm. They struggle to recalibrate their pacing.

It's disorienting, and you can guess how unsuccessful.

Funny how the same principle can hold in many regards when it comes to success in life and health.

Undoubtedly, there's a time and place for comparison.

I've used it to my advantage in many endeavors.

The key I find is to be mindful of when you turn to comparison

and what you're looking to get from it. There's an important distinction to be made here,

first off, exercising or training, insert any health or life endeavor, with other people,

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