What Is In The Gap Between Good And Great?
16 Nov 2025 · 14 min
Pamela Jean explores what separates good from great: the willingness to be vulnerable, practice harder, and embrace failure. Fear and doubt keep most people comfortable in good, but clarity about your why and a growth mindset are what push you toward your full potential.
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Welcome to A New Life podcast with Pamela Jean, where it's all about empowering women to empower more women. Get ready, friends, to create a new life. And here is your host, Pamela Jean. Hello, my friends, and welcome to this week's episode of A New Life podcast. I'm Pamela Jean, your host today. Thank you so much for joining me. Hey, you know, I know your time is so valuable. My friends and I just want to thank you so much for spending your time with me today. I am excited about this topic. It's a really fun one, and I think it's something that we can apply into our lives every single day, as well as our businesses. And my topic today is what is in the gap between good and great? What is in the gap between between being good at something and being great at something? There's a space that lives in between good and great that is really about taking you where you are right now to where you want to be. So grab a coffee, get cozy, and let's talk about bridging that gap between going from good to great in every area of your life. You know, we've all, you know, let's take a doctor, for instance. We've had doctors in our lives that have been really. That have been good. And then you have that doctor that is great. What's the difference between the good doctor and the great doctor? What are the things that that great doctor, does that make them so great? Is it the personal touch? Is it the bedside manner? Is it just the little extra niceties that make you feel comfortable? They take an interest in you? Is that what it is? Is that what's in the gap between good and great? Well, we want to talk about today. What is in your gap? What's the gap that is just keeping you good when you really could be great at something? So let's understand the gap today. Let's start by identifying what this gap between good and great really looks like. You see, good is comfortable. It's safe. When you're good at something, you're comfortable, you're safe. Most people are content to stay good at something. But great, great, my friends, is where the magic happens. Great is where you are truly living your best life, achieving your dreams and reaching your full potential. So what is standing in the way? Is it fear? Is it doubt? Is it lack of clarity? What is standing in your way from taking what you do from good to great? You know, if you think about a. I want to think about a golfer. I'm a terrible golfer. I don't know about you. But I'm a terrible, terrible golfer. I've not done it very often. It's one of those things that I might do once a year, if that. Every time I do it, it's so frustrating. It's so long, I get bored, I get disinterested, and I just kind of want to just leave because it isn't any fun. But if you are really, really great at something, it takes practice and repetition and discipline. You come from being a good golfer, which I'm not even a good golfer. I'm just quite awful, quite simply terrible. But you go at being good at something to great at something, and it's where you step into that light of extra effort and trying harder and making yourself vulnerable to what it would look like to be great. I want to talk about overcoming fear and doubt. Those are the little sneaky roadblocks that keep you stuck in the land of good when we should really be aiming for greatness. But you know what, friends? You have the power to overcome them. It's all about shifting your mindset. And I know you're probably tired of me talking about mindset because I talk about it a lot. I wouldn't talk about mindset if it wasn't important. Changing and shifting your mindset is where all of the things begin and end. To be honest with you, facing your fears head on and embracing the discomfort, trust me, it's absolutely worth it. So what are your fears and doubts? What is holding you back from going from good to great? Is it because you're afraid it's going to take more time away from your family? That's a legitimate fear. That's a legitimate fear because if you get really great at something, then the demands might be higher on you. And maybe you don't want to step into those demands. That's okay. That's something that we can talk about. Is it fear of failure? That's another good, legitimate concern. Is it fear of failure that if I try to be great at something, I'm going to fail? So many people live their life in fear of failure, and I don't want you to be that person. Let me hear from you guys if you want to talk about what is holding you back from stepping into your greatness, the fears or the doubts? Send me a DM on Instagram or leave a comment in the show notes here and let's support each other on this journey. You know, life isn't meant to be lived alone. And sometimes the journeys are hard, sometimes they're difficult, sometimes they're just plain fun. But isn't it more fun and less difficult if we're doing them together? So reach out to me if you want some help on understanding your fears about staying just good at something and not great. The next thing I want to talk about is the cultivating of clarity and vision. Clarity and vision are honestly the roadmap from going from good to great. You need to know where you're going if you ever want to get there. So understanding where is it that you want to be? What does great look like? Set those goals, create a vision board, and get crystal clear on what you want in your life. And honestly, once you have that clarity, there's nothing, absolutely nothing, that's going to stand in your way. Sometimes we don't understand the why behind the greatness that we're trying to achieve. And I can promise you, if you can lean into your why, and I know that sounds kind of cliche, find your why and you'll know exactly what to do. You your why has to be bigger than anything else in your life. The why is the story that you tell yourself. The story that you tell yourself and the story that you believe of what you are capable of. The greatness that you are capable of is all wrapped around the why. So friends, if you can lean into the Y and identify that getting to that greatness is just going to come hand in hand. Now, if you're someone who is legitimately struggling with understanding your why, that's very valid. I think your why shifts and change changes as you walk through life. There's seasons of our lives that the whys are very clear and very important. But then there's other seasons where you don't really know what your why is. Sometimes your why is directly related to your purpose, your passion, your purpose that God has created you for this lifetime. If you think about your why when you were in your 20s, that's going to look a lot different than the why that you're going to have in your 50s or your 60s and all of the ages in between. That is going to shift and change. So if you can understand what your why is, your purpose, that's going to help. How do you discover that if you have no clue? I think it's safe to say if you are a new empty nester, if I have any empty nesters out there listening. If you're a new empty nester, your purpose prior to becoming an empty nester was your children. It was getting them to the ball games, to practices, to dance class, to choir practice, band practice, whatever your kids were in that was your purpose, was really focusing on your family, getting your kids where they needed to be. Then all of a sudden, one day you wake up and that season of your life is over. Many of us go through a year or two or three where you're trying to rediscover what your purpose is, because it shifts and changes. And you were a great mother. That was your purpose. You were so good at it. You juggled life and business and work and children. You did it all. And now all of a sudden, your key component is not there anymore. Your children. You're on your own now. Your why is always going to be around something you love or someone you love, or someone you want to serve. That is what your why is almost always wrapped around. And that someone you want to serve is usually someone who is currently in a place in their life that you used to be. We are experts. We are experts at helping people walk through things that we have walked through ourselves. For instance, if you're someone who had multiple miscarriages and it was very difficult for you to conceive and carry a child to nine months to delivery, if you had multiple miscarriages, you know exactly what it feels like to be a woman in her 20s or 30s that have had multiple miscarriages. You can walk her through that. That is a perfect way of understanding your why. Because you're an expert. You know the hurts, you know the pains, you know what it feels like to wake up in the middle of the night thinking about the child you just lost last week. You are an expert. If you're someone who grew up with alcoholism in your family, maybe you're meant to serve someone that is walking through that themselves, or they have walked through it, but they're still grappling with the after effects of that in their lives. That's very possible. But your why is always going to come from someone or something you love or serving someone that is currently in a position that you used to be in. That's where you're going to find your why. And then once you establish what your why is, you can take being good at something to great by setting your goals and getting very clear on them. Like, who am I meant to serve? What do I love the most? And create the goals and dreams that are going to connect with both of those things. Write them down. Create a vision board. I have never created a vision board, but I have friends and other entrepreneurs that I know that do a vision board every year and that's very effective for them. Maybe that's going to be effective for you. Do whatever you need to make your goals and dreams real. And don't be afraid of failure, because failure's fear, right? We all feel nobody wants to fail, right? Who raise your hand if you wanna be a failure. Nobody wants to be a failure. But if you shift your mindset on what failure looks like, failure is education. Failure is learning. If you can embrace failure for. For something to learn as opposed to something to feel, which is failing at something, my goodness. You will absolutely never fear failure again. Become clear on all of those things and go after it with absolutely everything you've got. So, just to reiterate what we talked about today, understanding the gap. Why is the gap there? Because people like to stay comfortable. You. You don't want to get pushed out of that comfort zone. Who likes that? Nobody. Overcoming your fears in your doubts. We all have fears. We all have doubts. And then cultivating clarity and vision, understanding your why and your purpose based on the season that you're currently in, that is going to shift and change for everyone. That is for sure. My friends, this is short and sweet today, but I appreciate you listening in. Thank you so much for being here and I will see you next week. Thank you for joining us today on a New Life podcast. We will see you next time.
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