You’ll Never Win the Comparison Game—But You Can Win This One

One of my clients—let’s call him Phil—is 70 years old.

Phil trains three to four days a week. He does cardio and knows his VO2 Max. He plays pickleball. He uses the Morpheus Heart Rate training system. He reads. He asks great questions. By almost any objective measure, he is doing exceptionally well for his age.

And yet, Phil is exhausted.

Not physically—mentally.

Phil spends a lot of time comparing himself to other men his age. He uses ChatGPT to look up data. He checks rankings. He wants to know where he falls on the bell curve. According to the numbers, he’s doing great—top 5%, maybe even top 1%.

But here’s the problem:
Even when you “win” the comparison game, you still lose.

Because comparison never brings peace. It just resets the target.

What really haunts Phil is something Peter Attia, MD, discusses in his best-selling book,  Outlive: the reality that after about age 75, recovery from injury becomes far more difficult. Muscle loss accelerates. A prolonged layoff from training—due to a fall, surgery, or illness—can permanently change someone’s physical trajectory.

The science is real. But Phil is living inside the fear of it.

At some point, I told him, “Phil, you need to stop playing the comparison game.”

Don’t stop learning—but stop measuring your self-worth against other people.

To paraphrase my longtime mentor, Andy Andrews, let others inspire you, but don’t compare yourself to them.
Because there will always be someone stronger, faster, younger, richer, or more gifted. That game never ends—and you never win it.

The only competition that makes sense is competing against your own potential.

That’s a game you can win every single day.

Coach John Wooden built one of the greatest dynasties in sports history not by obsessing over opponents, but by preparing his players to execute within their strengths. He didn’t ask athletes to play outside their giftedness. He coached fundamentals, habits, and excellence in the role each player was best suited to play.

He focused on how they played—not who they played.

That philosophy won 10 national championships in 12 years, a record that will likely never be matched.

It also happens to be a brilliant framework for aging well.

Brian Tracy talks about the power of 1% improvement. One percent doesn’t sound like much—but over time, it compounds into something extraordinary. The same is true for health, mindset, and identity.

Ask better questions:

• Did I show up today?
• Did I train according to my body’s readiness?
• Did I make choices that support my future rather than feed my fear?
• Did I give my best today, given the body and circumstances I have right now?

If the answer is yes, that’s a win.

Another mentor of mine, Keith Klein, embodies this truth beautifully.

At his physical peak, Keith won the Mr. Texas title early in his career. At just over 6 feet tall, he was shredded at 4-5% body fat, weighing approximately 210 lbs. Then a small plane crash changed everything. Multiple surgeries followed. His competitive days were over—permanently.

He once told me it felt like a death.

Over time, he reframed. He let go in phases. First of what he was before the crash. Then later, of what age itself no longer allowed. His body changed. His priorities shifted. And slowly, his identity untangled itself from appearance.

Today, in his mid-60s, Keith is healthy, fulfilled, financially secure, deeply connected to the people he loves—and genuinely happy.

He is no longer chasing a former version of himself.

He is honoring the man he is now.

That’s the invitation.

Stop trying to beat your younger self.
Stop ranking yourself against strangers.
Stop rehearsing a future you can’t control.

I remind my clients constantly that they are not slaves to their past. And in the spirit of the great Jim Rohn, you’re not a tree. You can change how you think.

Play your position well. Invest in daily habits. Stay strong where you can. Adapt where you must. And measure success by effort, not comparison.

At the end of the day, if you can honestly say, “I gave my best today,”
you’re winning the only game that matters.

Closing thoughts:

So here’s my encouragement—especially if you’re in your 50s, 60s, or beyond.

Stop asking where you rank.
Stop rehearsing what you might lose someday.
Stop trying to prove that you’re still “ahead.”

Instead, ask a better question tonight before your head hits the pillow:

Did I give my best today, with the body, the time, and the information I have right now?

If the answer is yes, that’s a win.
And if the answer is no, tomorrow is a fresh opportunity—not a failure.

Aging well is not about denial, fear, or comparison. It’s about preparation. It’s about playing your position well, honoring your strengths, adapting wisely, and letting go—when necessary—of versions of yourself that no longer serve you.

You don’t have to win the comparison game.
You were never meant to.

But you can win the day.
And if you do that consistently, the long game tends to take care of itself.