Stop measuring the gap (it’s holding you back)

When was the last time you looked back at how far you’ve come - instead of focusing on how far you still need to go?

I found myself thinking about this question recently when I came across a concept that changed how I view progress (in both life and business).

Here’s a quick exercise I learned from Dan Sullivan’s The Gap and the Gain:

Take a piece of paper. At the bottom, write “Start” - that’s where you are today. At the top, write “Ideal” - that’s your vision of where you want to be. Now, in the middle, write “Achieved.”

Most of us spend our days measuring the distance between our “Achieved” and our “Ideal” - that’s the gap. We focus on how far we still need to go, what’s still missing, what’s not yet perfect. Living in this gap leads to constant disappointment, no matter how much progress we’re actually making.

But what if we measured backward instead of forward?

This hit home for me personally. Right now, I’m making intentional shifts in my life - building a business I love, nurturing my marriage, being present for special parenting moments, and fostering friendships. It’s easy to get caught up in how much more I want to accomplish in each area - it feels like there’s never enough time.

But when I shifted to measuring from where I started to what I’ve achieved, things changed. Instead of living in the gap of “not there yet,” I could recognize the gain of the progress I’d made.

This same principle is crucial in business, especially now. With tightening budgets and so much uncertainty, it’s tempting to focus on the gap - the sales not made, the goals not yet reached.

But what if this is actually our opportunity to measure and build something different?

This is exactly what I’ll be exploring in my upcoming workshop:
“Beyond the Sale: Nurturing Client Relationships in Quiet Times” on May 15th. We’ll discuss how to shift focus from immediate sales pressure to building lasting relationships that will sustain your business long-term.

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Ready to shift your perspective?

Join my workshop on May 15th: “Beyond the Sale: Nurturing Client Relationships in Quiet Times”.