A good rival is a free coach who shows you exactly where you’re slow.

Competition is uncomfortable because it makes your gaps visible, which is also the entire value of it. Someone slightly ahead of you is a live demonstration of what is possible and a precise map of where you are losing time. Resentment wastes that information, and curiosity uses it.

Pick the person who beats you most often and study one specific thing they do better rather than their whole self. Copy the mechanics, not the personality. If you can name the gap in one sentence, you have something to work on this month.