The Gap & The Gain

If you love setting big goals, check out The Gap and The Gain by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy. It’s one of my favorite mindset books for high achievers, especially those of us who are always chasing the next milestone.

The main idea is simple. There are two ways to measure progress. You can measure yourself against your ideal. That’s the gap. Or you can measure yourself against where you started. That’s the gain. Most ambitious people live in the gap. We hit a goal and immediately move the target.

You deadlift 200 pounds. Now you want 225.
You get your first pull-up. Now you want 10.
You finish your first 5K. Now you want a faster time.

On paper, that sounds healthy. Goals matter. But when we only measure ourselves against the next target, we never actually feel successful. The finish line keeps moving and eventually that creates discontent. The book challenges us to shift the measurement. Instead of asking how far you are from where you want to be, ask how far you’ve come from where you started. In fitness, especially in CrossFit, this is huge. Getting stronger and building skills takes time. Sometimes you get a big PR and it’s obvious. Most of the time the improvements are more subtle.

Your squat depth improves.
Your technique is better.
You recover faster between intervals.
You feel more confident walking into class.
You move better outside of the gym.

Those are gains. If you don’t intentionally look back, you might ,miss them!

We are regulary encouraging everyone to log their results or do the Open - and this is why! Logging workouts isn’t just about numbers. It’s about perspective. When you can look back at what you were lifting six months ago, how you scaled a workout last year or what your time was on a bench mark WOD (Workout Of the Day), you create proof of progress.

Proof builds confidence. Confidence builds consistency. Consistency builds long term results. Without that record, it’s easy to feel like you’re not improving, even when you are.

Train hard. Set big goals. And don’t forget to look back at how far you’ve already come!

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