Con el tiempo, me fui dando cuenta de que comparar mi progreso con el de otras personas no me ayuda.

Yes. Con el tiempo is a very common expression meaning over time, as time went by, or in time.

It does not usually mean literal physical time with something. It is an idiomatic phrase.

Examples:

• Con el tiempo, todo cambia. = Over time, everything changes.
• Con el tiempo, aprendí a no preocuparme tanto. = Over time, I learned not to worry so much.

So in your sentence, it sets up the idea that this realization happened gradually.

This is one of the most important nuances in the sentence.

• Me di cuenta = I realized / I noticed
  This often sounds like a more specific or sudden moment of realization.
• Me fui dando cuenta = I gradually realized / I came to realize little by little
  This emphasizes a process.

So:

• Me di cuenta de que... = I realized that...
• Me fui dando cuenta de que... = I gradually came to realize that...

Because the sentence begins with Con el tiempo, the gradual form fits very naturally.

This is the structure ir + gerundio, here in the preterite:

• fui = preterite of ir
• dando = gerund of dar

Together, ir + gerundio often expresses something that happens progressively or little by little.

So me fui dando cuenta literally feels like:

• I went realizing but in natural English:
• I gradually realized
• I came to realize

This structure is very common in Spanish:

• Fui aprendiendo español. = I gradually learned Spanish.
• Se fue calmando. = He/She gradually calmed down.

Because the verb expression is darse cuenta de = to realize / to become aware of.

It is not normally just dar cuenta in this meaning. The standard expression is:

• me doy cuenta
• te das cuenta
• se da cuenta
• nos damos cuenta, etc.

So in your sentence:

• me fui dando cuenta = I gradually came to realize

The me is part of the verb expression, not a separate word you can remove.

Because the full expression is darse cuenta de algo or darse cuenta de que...

The verb requires de.

Examples:

• Me di cuenta del problema. = I realized the problem / I became aware of the problem.
• Me di cuenta de que estaba equivocado. = I realized that I was wrong.

So in your sentence:

• me fui dando cuenta de que... = I gradually came to realize that...

This is standard grammar. The de belongs to darse cuenta.

Yes, it is completely natural.

The structure is:

• comparar X con Y = to compare X with Y

So:

• comparar mi progreso con el de otras personas

Literally:

• to compare my progress with that of other people

This sounds natural and elegant in Spanish.

Because el here stands for progreso.

Spanish often avoids repetition this way.

Expanded version:

• comparar mi progreso con el progreso de otras personas

To avoid repeating progreso, Spanish says:

• comparar mi progreso con el de otras personas

Here:

• el = the one
• el de otras personas = the one belonging to other people / other people's

So this is equivalent to:

• my progress with other people's progress

Yes, but it would mean something slightly different.

• Comparar mi progreso con el de otras personas = to compare my progress with other people's progress
• Compararme con otras personas = to compare myself with other people

The second version is broader and more personal. The original sentence is more specific: the speaker is talking about comparing progress, not their whole self.

So both are possible, but the original is more precise.

Because the speaker is describing a realization they had in the past about something they believe is still true now.

The timeline is:

• me fui dando cuenta = past process of realizing
• no me ayuda = present general truth from the speaker’s perspective

In English we do this too:

• I came to realize that this doesn’t help me.

You could also imagine a past version:

• ...no me ayudaba but that would sound more like it was true at that time specifically.

Using no me ayuda suggests:

• this is still true for me now
• comparing myself/ my progress still does not help me

Ayudar means to help.

• me ayuda = helps me
• no me ayuda = doesn’t help me

The me is the indirect object pronoun, meaning to me.

So:

• no me ayuda literally = it does not help me

In context, the subject is the whole action:

• comparar mi progreso con el de otras personas no me ayuda = comparing my progress with that of other people doesn’t help me

Because Con el tiempo is an introductory time expression.

Spanish often puts a comma after this kind of phrase, especially when it comes at the beginning of the sentence:

• Al principio, no entendía nada.
• Después de unos meses, mejoré mucho.
• Con el tiempo, me fui dando cuenta de que...

The comma helps mark the introduction clearly. In many cases, especially in shorter sentences, punctuation can vary a little, but here the comma is very natural.

Yes. Otras personas simply means other people.

You could also sometimes hear:

• los demás = others / other people
• otra gente = other people

But otras personas is neutral, clear, and very common.

In this sentence it works well because it sounds natural and not too informal.

It works well in both.

• Con el tiempo is common in both speech and writing.
• me fui dando cuenta de que is very natural in conversation because it expresses a gradual personal realization.
• comparar mi progreso con el de otras personas no me ayuda is also perfectly natural in writing, especially reflective or personal writing.

So the whole sentence sounds like thoughtful, natural Spanish that could easily appear in conversation, an interview, a blog post, or a personal reflection.