Stop Measuring the Distance, Start Noticing the Climb

“You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back, and you’ve climbed a mountain.” – Tom Hiddleston

We’ve all had moments when the distance between where we are and where we want to be feels insurmountable. It is as though we are standing at the base of a mountain, squinting upward at a summit that seems to recede the closer we get. So many ambitious, heart-led people get stuck in this, not for lack of effort or vision, but because of a dangerous form of measurement. Entrepreneur and coach Dan Sullivan calls it the Gap and the Gain, and once you understand it, you start to see it everywhere – in business, leadership, and your relationship with yourself.

When we’re in Gap thinking, we fixate on the space between us and our ideal – the goal not yet met, the number not yet hit, the version of ourselves we haven't yet become. We compare ourselves to others further along, measuring our progress against a hypothetical “should” rather than a lived truth. And the trouble is, the horizon keeps moving. Every time we achieve something, the goalpost shifts – the mountaintop moves, and the gap remains.

From this perspective, no matter how much ground you’ve covered, you still feel behind. Behind what? Often, we don't even know. But the feeling persists.

The Transformational Power of Looking Back

Gain thinking flips the lens. Instead of comparing yourself to the distant future, you compare yourself to the version of you from before. It’s deceptively simple, but profound. You pause, look back, and in doing so, you realize you have already climbed farther than you thought. When you measure progress against your starting point – not someone else’s highlight reel – you see the steady, imperfect, beautiful work of becoming, and you remember the quiet resilience, the bold choices, and the lessons learned the hard way. And suddenly something shifts.

For me, this shift was more than just a mindset tweak; it was a lifeline. There was a time I constantly measured myself against others’ financial success, visibility, and accolades. I may have seemed confident from the outside, but inside, I was stuck in the Gap. Every accomplishment felt small. Every step forward felt insufficient. But when I began to reframe through Gain thinking, everything changed. Instead of asking, “Why am I not further along?” I asked, “Why am I not further along?” I asked, “How far have I come?” And the answer wasn’t just comforting, it was galvanizing.

I saw not only what I had built, but the impact it was having. I saw the clients who had reclaimed their purpose, the lives I had quietly helped shift, and the slow, soulful climb I had been making all along. I realized: I have been on the right mountain all this time.

The View Is Already Better Than You Think

We often underestimate the power of perspective. We assume that only grand changes create momentum, but the most profound breakthroughs frequently come from the smallest shifts in how we see. So, if today you’re feeling behind, off course, or not enough, just pause, breathe, and look back for a moment. Notice the terrain you’ve covered, the obstacles you have outgrown, and the quiet ways you have kept showing up when no one else could see the effort. Once you see how far you have come, it becomes easier, even joyful, to take the next step. Not because you're chasing the peak… but because you're already becoming the person who belongs there.

We all carry a mountain inside us, not one to conquer, but one to inhabit. And every step, every misstep, every moment of doubt is still part of the climb. The next time the future feels far away, don’t just look ahead, look back, and you are already further than you think, and the view is already remarkable.