The Slight Edge is not just another self-development book with new ways of doing things. Rather, The Slight Edge is about teaching you to learn to use and master the information you already know.
Simple things, small steps, ie. baby steps, can make profound changes in your life. Your consistent actions will affect you in either a positive or a negative manner. It’s vital to focus on moving in a positive direction to achieve the results you want.
I was particularly struck by the story of the water hyacinth. The water hyacinth is one of the most productive plants on earth; it’s preferred method of colonizing a new area is to grow by doubling itself. It’s a fantastic story about the effects of compounding. We are all making choices every day. We don’t see the results today or even tomorrow. Eventually we will. Will the result be what we want?
“On the first day, you won’t even notice it. On day 15, it will cover perhaps a single square foot of the pond’s surface. On the 20th day (2/3 of the way to the end of the month), you may notice a dense little patch of floating foliage. On day 29, one-half of the pond’s surface will be open water. On the 30th day, the entire pond will be covered by a blanket of water hyacinth. You will not see any water at all.”
In a very well written, easy to ready book, the author leads you through the process of identifying and learning what the Slight Edge is and how you are already applying it in your life. The second part of the book encourages you to look at what you want to achieve in the areas of your life such as: your health, your finances, your personal relationships, your family, and how to apply the Slight Edge philosophy to help achieve the life you want to live.
This book is appropriate for anyone, in any business, who wants to improve their life. It’s motivational and instructional. I believe it’s a book you’ll want to keep and read several times.
Some of my favorite quotes:
“The right choices and the wrong choices you make at the moment will have little or no noticeable impact on how your day goes for you. Nor tomorrow, nor the next day. No applause, no cheers, no screams, no life of death results played out in Technicolor. But it is precisely those very same, undramatic, seemingly insignificant actions that, when compounded over time, will dramatically affect how your life turns out.”
“It’s easy to do. And it’s easy not to do. And if you don’t do it, it won’t kill you or destroy your chances for success today. But that simple error in judgment, compounded over time, will kill your chances for success. It will take you down and out of your life forever. And that choice is always yours.”
“You have to go one direction or the other; you can’t stand still. Everything is constantly changing. There are only two possibilities. Either you let go of where you are and get to where you could be, or you hang onto where you are and give up where you could be. You are either going in the direction of your dreams or giving up your dreams. Stretching for what you could be, or settling for what you are. There is simply no in-between. Doing nothing means going down. It’s your choice.”
“Gigantic funerals are held and great crowds, sometimes entire nations, mourn for those people who spent their lives not worrying about what others thought.”
“Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do; they put the Slight Edge to work for them, rather than against them, every day. They refuse to let themselves be swayed by their feelings, moods or attitudes; they rule their lives by their philosophies, and do what it takes to get the job done, whether they feel like it or not.”
Bottom line…this is a must read. Success and failure are both predictable. Get the book, or audio book and learn the simple philosophy of the Slight Edge. If you allow it to…it will change your life.
Get the book here
Connect with the author, Jeff Olson:
I’d love to hear your stories of how you are applying the Slight Edge philosophy in YOUR life! Come back and let me know!!
YOLO,
Jan
Jan Orga 