The good is inside, not in the standings

Pull the week together. The hidden leap from "ahead" to "better." The price the front-runner paid. The steady people who stopped keeping score. The envy that dissolves once you'd have to sign for the whole order. The flock running somewhere you never chose. The feed cropping out the invoice. Strip the week down and one move is left: the moment your sense of being alright depends on where you place against other people, you've put your good somewhere you don't control.

Epictetus draws the line clean: "If you ever happen to turn your Attention to Externals, so as to wish to please any one, be assured, that you have ruined your Scheme of Life" (Enchiridion 23, Carter). Not because pleasing people is wrong, but because the second your scheme of life depends on their verdict, you've handed them the steering wheel. The applause moves, and you move with it.

Your good is inside — in how you work, deal, and carry yourself — or it's in the standings, where you can't reach it. Only one of those is actually yours.

Next week turns to the wage and the worth: doing the work well, separate from what it pays.