Legendary business coach Dan Sullivan coined the concept of The Gap and the Gain, later developed into a bestselling book co-authored with Benjamin Hardy. In this book, Sullivan and Hardy explore how entrepreneurs can burn out themselves and their teams by constantly seeing the glass as half empty—focusing on the Gap instead of celebrating the Gains their business has made.

The Trap of Focusing on the Gap

I’ve seen this play out time and again—with my clients, my late father, and even myself. You set an ambitious goal, buckle down to accomplish it, make great progress… and still fall short. You’ve made tremendous strides, but instead of feeling accomplished, you feel frustrated—or even ashamed.

This mindset can affect your employees too. If you don’t express appreciation, they burn out or lose the will to go the extra mile. “Why try hard when nothing is ever good enough for the boss?” they may wonder. Some might even leave the hard parts of finishing projects to you as a kind of punishment: “Let the boss burn themselves out on the thing we’d have had to struggle with anyway.”

Why the Gap Also Drives Success

I agree—always seeing the Gap while ignoring the Gain frustrates those around you. But there’s a flip side. Isn’t never being satisfied exactly what drives success in entrepreneurs? If Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, or Elon Musk were ever content with their first billion, they could have stopped there. They had the means to retire and take up golf or painting. But they didn’t. They kept going. Why? Because the Gap gnaws at them. It drives them to pursue ever-greater Gains.

I see the same in my most successful clients. I can never quite make them happy—but their relentless hunger and vision inspire me. Yes, people sometimes feel slighted by them. But A-players? They’ll endure that in exchange for being part of a great mission alongside a charismatic leader. This is why I contend that without a Gap, there can be…