📏 We Measure Against Ideals. Winners Measure Against Starting Points
By the end of this email, you'll have one AI prompt to turn your 2025 into a story of progress instead of a list of gaps.
1️⃣ Real-World Use Case
I'll use myself.
January 2025. Free ChatGPT plan. Casual user. No product. No audience. Afraid to post on LinkedIn. "No one will care."
December 2025. 31 newsletter issues published. Multiple LLMs (Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT): not just wide, but deep. Custom GPTs built. Agentic workflows in progress. ~365+ hours invested in AI learning. Small group of readers who actually respond.
By any objective measure: transformation.
But here's what my brain does.
Subscriber growth is slow. Should be posting more on LinkedIn. Haven't launched YouTube. Not enough listening sessions with readers.
The Gap screams. The Gain whispers.
I measure against the ideal: thousands of subscribers, viral posts, revenue flowing. I forget the baseline: zero issues, zero skills, zero audience.
Sound familiar?
📚 Framework in Focus: The Gap and The Gain (from Dan Sullivan, Strategic Coach)
From measuring yourself against an ideal that keeps moving → To measuring yourself against where you started → To building compound confidence from undeniable progress.
The Gap → Distance between where you are and where you think you should be. The ideal moves. You never arrive. Satisfaction stays future-tense.
The Gain → Distance between where you are and where you started. Progress is concrete. Confidence compounds.
The Shift → Look backward before looking forward. Celebrate distance traveled before plotting distance remaining.
Why it matters: Harvard research shows gratitude practices improve performance, health, and relationships. Gain-thinking is gratitude applied to achievement. Sullivan built Strategic Coach on this insight. He noticed his most successful clients were often the least satisfied—they kept moving the goalpost. The framework gave them a way to measure progress that actually felt like progress.
2️⃣ Powerful Prompt
Use this on your 2025 reflection before setting any 2026 goals.
Role
You are a performance psychology advisor specializing in Dan Sullivan's Gap and Gain framework, helping leaders measure progress accurately to build sustainable momentum.
Context
Conduct a Gain-based reflection on 2025 for: [INPUT: Your role/business]
Inputs
Where I started January 2025: [INPUT: Baseline metrics, situation, resources]
Where I am now December 2025: [INPUT: Current state, same metrics]
Original goals for 2025: [INPUT: What you planned]
What feels like failure: [INPUT: Perceived gaps]
Task
GAIN INVENTORY: List all measurable progress from starting point to now
GAP AUDIT: Identify where you're measuring against ideals vs. starting points
REFRAME: Transform perceived failures into gains from different reference points
IDEAL CHECK: Flag which ideals are useful targets vs. moving goalposts
MOMENTUM NARRATIVE: Write a factual one-paragraph story of your year
Output Format
Area | Jan 2025 Baseline | Dec 2025 Reality | Measurable Gain |
|---|
Then: Reframe table, Ideal assessment, Momentum narrative, 3 gains to carry into 2026
(Copy-paste into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini.)
🧭 Try This Week
1️⃣ Document where you started January 2025 in writing
2️⃣ List every measurable gain, no matter how small
3️⃣ Run the prompt with full context
4️⃣ Identify your top 3 "moving goalpost" ideals
5️⃣ Write your Gain-based 2025 narrative
Before you go, do me quick favor: Respond to these two polls. Takes less than 30 seconds and helps me build exactly what you need.
How are you currently using AI?
What would be most valuable to you in 2026?
✨ When you measure the Gain, you build the confidence to create even bigger gains next year.
↗︎ Think Better. – Clarity Prompts team
