What the front-runner paid

The person ahead of you didn't get there for free. The manager who's always first in mind is also always in the building — early, late, weekends, phone never off. The top earner on the floor took the shifts nobody wanted. The one with the boss's ear spent a hundred small evenings earning it. You see the result and feel behind. You rarely see the invoice.

Epictetus used a dinner you weren't invited to. "It is sold for Praise: it is sold for Attendance. Give him then the Value, if it be for your Advantage" (Enchiridion 25, Carter). The seat at the table has a cost — flattery, presence, hours handed over. If that price is worth it to you, pay it and stop complaining. If it isn't, then you didn't lose the seat. You declined to buy it.

That reframes half the comparison trap. You're not falling behind a better person. You're looking at someone who paid for a thing you chose not to pay for, sometimes for good reasons — your kids, your health, a life outside the job.