Chad SilversteinBuilt To Lead · Entrepreneur , Advisor, & Thought Leader

Stay Out of This Trap!

Name: Stay Out of This Trap!
Uploaded: 2025-08-10T13:00:41+00:00
Duration: 2 min 8 s
Channel: Chad Silverstein
Description: In this solo motivational monologue, Chad Silverstein discusses a common psychological pitfall he calls the “gap trap,” which occurs when…

10 Aug 2025 · 2 min

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2:08

In this solo motivational monologue, Chad Silverstein discusses a common psychological pitfall he calls the “gap trap,” which occurs when commission‑driven professionals compare their current performance to an ideal future target they have imagined. He observes that many high‑performers are never satisfied because they constantly measure themselves against a moving goalpost, leading to chronic disappointment even after strong results. Silverstein argues that the antidote is to “measure backwards” – to compare current outcomes to past performance, celebrating the progress made over months, years, or even decades. He cites the Strategic Coach methodology taught by Dan Sullivan as the source of this insight, emphasizing that looking at historical growth energizes motivation and prevents self‑sabotage. The talk also touches on the culture of resetting numbers each month in commission‑driven roles, the importance of acknowledging wins, and the fleeting satisfaction that comes from hitting a goal only to immediately set a new one.

Chapters

At my company, we used to have producers that at the end of the month would have to reset their numbers every month. A lot of jobs have this, commission-driven jobs, and, you know, they're always trying to beat last month's numbers. They're trying to break their records. And as my business grew and people started doing better and their numbers started to increase, I noticed that there was always a camp of performers that were never happy with their numbers. Never. And there's something to be said about constantly pushing yourself, but there's also something to be said about celebrating the wins and being able to at least momentarily enjoy your success. And when you have a great month but it's not your best month, and you're asked, how was your month, how'd you do, and you're Debbie Downer about it, you know, that's just a way to sabotage yourself because you got to let it in. You got to let in that, you know, you were able to like look backwards and see that you were crushing it compared to where you were last year, 2 years ago, 3 years ago. And what most people do and what causes this moment of being a Debbie Downer is people are comparing their current state to where they want to be. And when you compare where you are to where you want to be, there's a gap. And we call this the gap trap because you would never want to measure yourself against an ideal that you make up. It's not real. So if I set a goal for myself to be making X dollars and I throw that rock out, that's where I want to be. And I look at what I'm making today and I compare it to that number, it's not gonna make me feel so good. When I look back and realize, wow, I started off making $12 an hour when I first started my career, look what I'm making now, that gives me energy. You always wanna measure backwards. This is a concept we learned at Strategic Coach with Dan Sullivan. It's just so powerful. Always measure backwards. Don't measure against an ideal that you made up in your head. It doesn't exist. And the problem is, is that when you set out a big goal and you get closer to it, you throw the rock out more. When you hit the goal, you set another goal. That moment of, "I got it," is temporary, and it's usually little satisfaction compared to the rush that you can get on your way to achieving that goal.