If like me, you find yourself utterly frustrated with being so impatient with wanting to achieve your goals and everything ‘right now’ this book is a must-read. As Jeff Olson points out, quantum leaps do happen, but only after lengthy, gradual, and consistently applied effort. It’s a fantastic reminder that you already know how to do everything it takes to reach the dizzy heights of success you imagine for yourself. All you have to do is keeping doing the things that got you this far.
Do the thing, and you shall have the power.
What I loved about The Slight Edge
This book is pragmatic, it’s practical, it will make you laugh and also make you want to kick yourself. It’s a beautiful reminder that it’s not about our talent, our predisposition to being a genius, or anything special that separates you from where you are now to where you want to be. It’s about your philosophy, your attitudes, and your actions. Those three things create your results and the life you want to live.
It’s so simple. The Slight Edge is a way of thinking that will change your course or put you on course and if you need a little kick up the rear, this is the catalyst you’re looking for.
I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. You get busy living, or get busy dying.
This is one of the many quotes that I enjoyed throughout the book along with the stories to help you absorb the principles that Jeff Olson talks about. It’s captivating and engaging, I just couldn't put it down.
A few challenging ideas
5% of people achieve the level of success they hope for. The other 95% fall short or fail. What was rather challenging to accept was that the difference between the 5% and the 95% is mundane. Successful people don’t have a magic bullet, a potion, or more hours in the day. They just consistently do the things. The important bit is understanding that it’s just as easy NOT to do the things. It’s really easy to go for a walk but it's just as easy not to go for a walk. It's easy to not do that sales follow up, not to do all the little things that if you added them up over a long period of time would look like a quantum leap.
Highlights
This book was full of insight, full of actionable steps to start living the Slight Edge and there are so many things I want to talk about. But I’d rather you go and get the book to experience it for yourself. If I have to choose one thing to share with you now, it’s a diagram that will forever be etched in my psyche. I do hope that the author doesn’t mind me sharing this snap from the book. This little diagram has already caught me out a few times thinking ‘oh I don’t need to do that, things are good’. Just because you peak a little bit over the line of survival, if you stop doing the things that got you there, you’ll start slipping back down that slope.
Our health, our finances, our lives our businesses have all ridden this roller coaster. Looking back, you realise how insane it is to stop doing the things that got you there. When the medicine starts to work, we stop taking the medicine.
My Rating of The Slight Edge
This is a game-changer, a ‘can’t put it down’ sort of book and it absolutely gets five stars from me. If you’re looking at some big hairy scary goals, want to shed a few pounds, or accomplish some sort of goal, this book is all the inspiration you need to make it happen.
Keep climbing my friends.
For more books on my bookshelf, checkout the resources section.
