I was sitting in one of Toronto's finer eating establishments earlier this week. You know, one of those places which has been written up in all the better magazines. Where, if you arrive early - and the place is empty - they still ask if you have a reservation!

I'd arrived early. Well, I certainly didn't want to keep my hosts waiting. After all, as a couple of fast-paced, high-flyers dashing through Toronto at the beginning of a busy working week, the last thing they would want to do is to sit and wait for me.

So instead, I waited for them…and was intrigued. I was fascinated by the group at the table next door. The table was set for five. Two were already there when I first noticed the posturing and preening.

"Who should sit where? When would the others arrive? My, it had been so long since they'd seen one another. And, was everyone well?" But before the first guest could answer, her hostess had already begun to scan the room…..for what, I'm not sure.

One by one the guests arrived, each more fashionably late than the other. There was a moment of recognition. An instant in which to gauge their impressions - and their own personal impact - before the dance began.

Goodnesss, but this is a long way from hauling hay bales, I thought to myself, remembering the helping hand I'd given a neighbour friend the day before.

I was on the verge of comparing and contrasting myself to those at the table next door when I remembered a comment made by Olympic Skating Gold Medallist Alexi Yagudin. When asked how he had managed such a convincing comeback against his younger rival and current world champion, Evgeni Plushenko, Yagudin responded that he had spent two years “in the wilderness, worrying about what Plushenko might be able to do. The more he pondered about the other guy's performance and potential, the more his own deteriorated.

"When I began to focus on my own strengths, my performance improved," he said. "And yes, I won!"

This was a markedly different perspective from that of the people next door, still totally absorbed in comparing themselves, one against the other.

Some say that "'Tis odious to compare". But when we compare ourselves only to ourselves, and our own previous best, surely that can do no harm?

Who knows, it might even lead us to the gold.