Freedom From vs Freedom To

Let’s say your starting point is 1 and your goal is 25, but you only get to 20. You’re in the GAIN if you focus on the actual progress you’ve made. You’re in the GAP if you’re measuring yourself against that 25. You’re in the GAP if you’re measuring yourself against that 25, so you are 5 short. If you’re in the GAIN, you measure yourself against the 1, and see you’ve moved up to 20 spots.

Being in the GAIN means you measure yourself backward, against where you were before. You measure your own progress. You’re seeing your own progress every day. You’re happier. When you’re in GAIN, your life is based on your actions and results. Not what could have or should have happened. The GAIN is all measurable (i.e. Tangible) outcome.

Being in the GAIN makes you psychologically safe and empowered. It doesn’t matter what actually occurs, you can turn experience into GAIN – by creating new lessons, insight or even standard for yourself- you become better and your future becomes brighter.

When you’re in GAP about any experience, you’re psychologically unsafe and disempowered. You are stuck. You won’t be able to move forward until you frame the experience as a GAIN. You need to embrace learning (i.e. failing) and convert every experience into learning and growth…

With GAIN, you become highly unique and incomparable.

As Seth Godin says, “The rule is simple: the person who fails the most will win. If I fail more than you do, I will win. Because in order to keep failing, you’ve got to be good enough to keep playing.”

If I look back four years from now and measure myself from then, I have gained more footprints in my business and in my personal life, added over seven thousand professionals who read my stories, although, I get unsubscribed too occasionally amidst my burgeoning emailing list.

I have read over one hundred books and listened to huge number of podcasts and referred to many journals. I have numerous clients from across globe and most of them are from the world’s best institutions doing amazing things in their life. My daughter is working on Green Economy and Sustainability along with some of the world’s best Economists including a Noble prize nominee.

I’m humbled. Certainly, I have infinitely more gains ahead of me.

I am still moving on with no finish line in my mind. This mindset shift from GAP-thinking to GAIN-thinking is fundamental and important for me. This thinking has changed my life, how I approach my work, and most importantly, my family. You become self-scoring. Vast majority of us take our scoring from other’s opinions, but ambitious people take their scoring from the inside.

Look at your life right now- what are all the GAINS you can think of?
What are your GAINS from the past 90 days?
What are your desired GAINS for the next 90 days?

Look at your life right now—when was a time you went into the GAP by comparing yourself to someone else? When you’re in the GAP, you’re avoiding “here” while trying to get “there” – but never actually arriving “there” , and that creates unhappiness…

You will never “find” happiness when you’re in the GAP thinking.

By the way, when was a time you used gratitude to reframe a situation into a GAIN and move forward?

FREEDOM to Vs FREEDOM from…

FREEDOM to is GAIN which is internal. GAIN gives you freedom.

Freedom from is GAP which is external.

You must choose to free yourself from the GAP i.e. free yourself from the lack or need. If you focus on what lack, you lose what you have. If you focus on what you have, you gain what you lack.

You can never have enough that you don’t really need until you free yourself from GAP. Once you’re out of GAP, you’re at the “freedom to” stage, where you can truly be whoever it is you want to be.

Where in your life you want freedom from?
Where in your life you want freedom to?

For illustration,
Freedom from is external – you’re free from hunger.
Freedom to is internal- you’re free to choose what you’ll eat.

List down all your “FREEDON from” on the right-hand side and “FREEDOM to” on the left side, and feel the experience , see the opportunities for growth, success through the next level of Freedom.

This exercise has helped many of my clients’ experiencing valuable learnings and lot of insights.The whole idea is to retrain yourself to see GAINS rather than the GAP.

The question you must now ask yourself is: How far will I go?

You’re the only person who can answer this question.
You’re the only person whose judgement matter about your experience – and your GAINS.

You may write me back at coach@maximizeu.life with how much GAINS you’ll create…..