Ratings: 10/10 concept, 5/10 implementation

The Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy pitches the idea that there are two ways to view any situation. And those two ways are either from the GAP, or from the GAIN. What this book has going for it, is that it's a really interesting concept, and a really simple way to change your perspective from a negative perspective to a positive one. However, with such a simple concept it struggles to fill up an entire book about the GAP vs the GAIN, and you can tell the authors had to get a little bit creative in how to take up space. I actually really connected with what he was saying, and had a conversation with a friend about a very similar topic, but we'll touch on that a bit more later.

The Basic Idea

What the book spells out in a lot of different ways is that there are two basic ways you can look at any situation. The first, and what people will usually do, is take the viewpoint from the GAP. The GAP being where you wanted to be vs. where you are. The authors suggest that while this is the "default" in the modern world it's much better to view the world from the GAIN. The GAIN here is just where you came from vs where you currently are.

I actually really like this idea, and as I read the book I started thinking about it and it does I think lead to more happiness, and to more motivation. (which is surprising because you'd think focusing on what you've already accomplished would make you a bit more lazy, not more motivated). There are also a few pretty key concepts in the book that help you focus on the GAIN, and help you stay happy and motivated.

My Key Takeaways

You can be happy now

The first is that you're better off if you're happy. Seems obvious, right? Of course people want to be happy. But what the book suggests, and I tend to agree with, is that being happy is a choice and is often caused more by perspective than situation. We know from Viktor Frankl that your perspective has a lot more effect than people would believe. If you're not familiar with Viktor Frankl, he is a Holocaust survivor that achieved a lot of great things in his life after the Holocaust, and is known really well for his books on psychology, such as Man's Search for Meaning.

But that's a key argument for the gap vs the gain, that you can have happiness in your life and still feel motivated to do more and become more. You can realize that that goal you set that you didn't quite reach wasn't something you absolutely needed in your life, but something you wanted, and by trying to get there you've improved your life. And through seeing that, you can stay motivated to continue to set and achieve goals, but you can also be happy with the progress that you did make even if you don't reach your goals in the timeline you were hoping for.

This point really reminded me of a conversation I had with a good friend at one point. We were talking about our jobs/goals/etc. and we both talked about how much progress we made, and that we were really happy with that progress. But we weren't satisfied with it. We wanted more progress, we wanted more out of life than what we currently had, but still happy with the progress. Basically, I think this entire point could be summed up by saying you can live your life "happy, but not satisfied", which leads to happiness now, and continued progress to your goals.

With the right perspective, good can come out of any situation

The next key takeaway is that the way you feel is almost always caused by your perspective about a situation in your life. Which is a really good thing, because your perspective is yours to control. You can reframe things, you can find useful information, you can do a lot of different things to turn something that a lot of people think would be a massive negative in life, into a positive.

In the book the author shares story after story about personal tragedies that are turned into basically fuel to become something bigger. Premature death of a loved one, traumatic experiences, pretty much everything you can think of that could happen bad to a person, he explained how it could be used as positive motivation and learning material in your life.

Spend time planning and reflecting every day

The final, and maybe the biggest catalyst for staying in the "gain" mindset, is to plan and reflect every single day. I think if there is one thing to get out of this book, this is the one. In the book it says to keep a journal or log or something of your three biggest wins of the day, and what you want your biggest wins to be out of your day tomorrow. It also talks a lot about keeping track of things you're grateful for, but it doesn't outright say it so I will too, and that is to also write down three things (sometimes these are personal wins, sometimes they are the actions of others) that you're grateful for from your day. If you want more happiness and motivation in your life, this seems like the biggest thing you can do for yourself to achieve that.

Conclusion

This book feels like it repeats itself a lot, and doesn't end up being that long of a book even with all the repeating. I mean at one point in the book, it asks you to list your 10 signals you're living your dream life and then the author gives you space to write these out. If that's not pure filler for a book, I don't know what is. That being said, this book is still worth a read in my opinion. The concept feels important enough that it's worth picking up the book, reading it, and at least trying to shift your mindset from the GAP to the GAIN. It does take work, but really I do think it's worth trying to make that shift.