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Book The Slight Edge

Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and
Happiness
Jeff Olson and John David Mann
Greenleaf Book Group, 2013
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Curious about The Slight Edge? Read our review below. While we’re awaiting the copyright
holder’s go-ahead to summarize this book in our usual summary format, we hope you’ll find
our review just as helpful.

Review
Personal development expert Jeff Olson focuses his bestselling manual on helping you
recognize and develop your “slight edge” to build better habits. His approach may be familiar
to readers who have dipped into other books on setting goals and changing your life. Olson
refers to some of them and retells stories from others. Since part of his message is that you
already know most of what you should do and you just need to do it, his reliance on
reviewing known information isn’t that great a problem. Olson makes his message fresh and
promising. He writes clearly, and presents his ideas and his explanations of how to manifest
them in accessible prose. This expanded reissue of the original edition includes personal
stories from readers of his earlier, briefer version. Hearing from those who found that his
work made a significant, positive difference in their lives makes Olson more immediate and
even more credible.

The “Slight Edge”

Olson asks you to imagine two men. One is a “beach bum” who enjoys weightlifting and the
sun, but who barely squeaks out a living caddying for richer golfers. The other is a college
graduate who starts his own successful business. They are both the same man, just at different
stages of his life – and he will remain the same man when his business crashes, leaving him
emotionally defeated and broke. Olson contends that people really don’t change. The same
actions might lead one person to all three outcomes – beach bum, business owner, failure –
and could shape what he does next.

Olson asserts that people often know what they need to do – the way most people know, in a
general way, what it means to eat better versus eating poorly. And most people know that
eating better results in improved health. What makes the difference, then, between success
and failure? Olson’s answer is: the slight edge.

The difference between a good fate and a bad one lies in continuing to do the things that
produce success, according to Olson. When people create their own success, it shows them
that they can control whether they succeed or fail and proves to them that they know what to
do. Unfortunately, most people, Olson believes, do productive, positive things only when
they are on the brink of failure. They see the abyss, and move themselves away from it for a
while. Then they relax and stop doing what they need to do to succeed, even though they
know what it is. Then, they start sliding toward failure, and the cycle starts again.
Change Your Philosophy

To shift from temporary success to ongoing, long-term success, Olson says you must change
your philosophy. Your beliefs determine how you approach all aspects of your daily life.
They create your thoughts, emotions, actions and results. Imagine the different results
produced by someone who thinks, “I’ll start working harder if they pay me more” versus the
person who thinks, “I’ll do a better job and earn more money.”

You might need to change your definition of success, especially as it relates to time. Many
people see success as a sudden, even overnight, explosion of wealth. The opposite is true.
Olson contends that true success is “progressive”; it emerges over time in a natural sequence.
Success isn’t an arbitrary outcome or a matter of luck. It involves identifying a “worthy
ideal” and working to attain it.

Compound Interest

Olson offers this hypothetical choice, which illustrates a significant difference in definitions
and approaches to life. Say that a dying man gives his two sons the choice of a million dollars
now or a single penny, which doubles daily for a month. The allure of the million is clear,
and the son who selects that will be rich immediately. But the son who chooses the penny
will end up with more money and have the learning experience of watching his money grow.
This happens through compound interest, which causes investments to multiply over time.
People who invest a little regularly can see their investments turn into wealth through this
time-based power that seems almost miraculous.

This multiplier applies beyond the financial realm. In Olson’s metaphor, small actions that
you perform regularly compound in your personal relationships, fitness, skills, and so on.
Small, positive actions build on one another to create better lives. Unfortunately, the author
warns, debt and negative relationships accumulate the same way, destroying finances and
lives.

The Tortoise and the Hare

Becoming rich and successful isn’t a trick. No one can do magic and be instantly successful.
Those who do well master simple, mundane actions and perform them regularly. They study,
exercise, inquire after their loved ones’ feelings, and so on. They embrace methodical self-
development to become better people. Olson says most people don’t do these things, even
though they’re easy. The lack of an immediate payoff makes these positive actions “seem
insignificant.” Consider the classic fable of the tortoise and the hare. The reliable flow of
regular action is the path to success: Slow and steady does win the race. This may be a tired
fable, but Olsen sees meaning in it. He says contemporary culture pushes you toward quick
fixes and miracle cures. That mind-set believes winning the lottery is the best model for
success.

Patience

Successful people are patient, Olson maintains. They see the value of work over the course
of time. They recognize that the “quantum leap” to a new level can happen, but only after
they lay the foundation through extensive practice. People and societies can make huge
changes – and even sudden, dramatic upheavals, like ending the centuries-old practice of
slavery. People create those changes by working tirelessly for decades, even for their entire
lives. Olson believes that many people think about happiness backward. They think that when
or if they succeed, they’ll be happy. Studies of happiness show that, in fact, happy people
become more successful. People who use positive language live longer and have fewer health
problems than those who are angry and always complain.

Olson emphasizes that you can develop happiness as a habit or practice. Embrace gratitude
daily, exercise, meditate and spend time with friends, and you’ll find that your happiness
increases. People who practice the slight-edge approach spread success beyond themselves.
Success ripples outward, positively affecting other people in their lives. Even the smallest
change can be enough to get someone started. Imagine becoming 1% better. Anyone can do
that. Someone who got just 1% better each day would be more than three times better – 365%
– in a year. Olson offers solid advice here, but he need to know when to let it stand on its own
instead of cheerleading.

Applying the Slight Edge

Applying the concept of the slight edge starts with recognizing that life doesn’t move in a
straight line. Olson states that everyone’s life moves along one of two curves: Either
you’re making your life better or you’re making it worse. Imagine two arrows curving gently
away from one another. The place where they part is the moment of choice. Choosing the
upward arrow is hard. Many social forces work to hold people down. Children before age
five hear the word “no” eight times as often as they hear “yes.” That’s one reason only a few
people – one in 20, or 5% – choose positive paths of conscious growth and self-development.

One factor that sets these “5 percenters” apart is their choice to be responsible instead of
blaming others. Most people, Olson says, 95% of them, blame other people, outside forces,
bad luck and so on for their situations. The few who create positive paths for themselves
accept responsibility. They act to create the lives and realities they want. They apply the
slight edge, day by day, to make things better.

Focus and “Mastery”

Olson offers a touching perception: People who follow the failure curve dwell in the past.
They get trapped there, longing for what might have been. Most people focus on what they
can’t change. People on “the success curve” learn from the past and use it as a tool as they
focus on the future. They choose to take concrete steps – small choices anyone could pursue,
like walking a few extra minutes each day to improve their health. People following a
negative path don’t do things like that. People on a positive curve look honestly at
their health, relationships, finances and careers. They see whether those key areas trend
upward or downward. Then, they change their actions to produce the results they want.

Olson describes the positive path as a path of mastery, a path of trying, perhaps failing, and
trying again, getting a little better every time. A baby learning to walk follows a path of
mastery. “Wanting,” which keeps people moving on this path, has two meanings. One
meaning is familiar: wanting is desire. The other meaning is that to be in want of something
is to lack it. Staying on the path of mastery means embracing both meanings – feeling the
desire intensely while feeling the absence of the thing you desire. This absence hurts. Olson
describes human nature as fairly simple: According to him, people deal with that pain either
by giving up or, better, by acting to close the gap between what they have and what they
want.

Giving up stops the tension, but it also stops forward momentum. Instead, move forward.
Making progress requires feeling the desire – and becoming clear about what you want. It
means adjusting your philosophy. Most people live safely in their “comfort zones.” To reach
your goals, you must leave that comfort zone and embrace living uncomfortably as a
transition.

People who are committed to reaching their goals invest in themselves. They rest and prepare
before they attempt a difficult task. They engage in continuous learning. That doesn’t
necessarily mean attending formal classes or studying specific skills. Lifelong learning means
consciously seeking knowledge from any and all sources to improve your mind and build a
more positive philosophy. It means reading books, especially classics of self-improvement,
attending seminars, listening to 10 minutes of an audiobook while driving, and so on.

Olson reminds readers that when you’re reading, your goal isn’t to build up your “book
smarts” but to work on learning about life: true lessons you can apply to your quest for
success. Successful people have “street smarts.” They know what works in reality. They
bridge the gap between studying and doing.

“The Law of Association”

People on the success path are more likely to move ahead if they pursue a third kind of
learning: following models. Olson urges you to seek people who have succeeded in doing
what they want to do and being what they want to be. The practice of working with a mentor
has a long history. Sometimes it means seeking living mentors or masters. Finding that
mentor accelerates your progress. These models spur a learning cycle: Studying leads to
doing, which leads to following a model, which leads to more study and going around again.

The Law of Association says that the people you associate with determine what you do with
your life. Therefore, Olson suggests you limit the time you spend with destructive people,
and seek those who reinforce your success. This could take the form of creating a
“mastermind” group in which several committed people join together to support and
encourage one another.

Tools for Progress

Olson offers these tools to help you make progress on the path toward success:

• Momentum – Rather than trying to make a huge, cataclysmic change, take daily
positive actions to keep moving in the right direction.
• Completion – Many people leave things undone or half-finished. These incomplete
commitments drag them down and distract them. Finish your tasks – and make
finishing a habit and principle.
• Reflection – You can easily mistake being busy for being productive. Regular
reflection helps you make sure you’re on the right path. Examine your actions in a
journal or talk through them through with a friend.
• Celebration – People get told no or that they’re wrong a lot. Recognize when you do
things right, and celebrate those moments to reinforce your positive path.
Successful Habits

Use these tools to make positive, successful actions habitual. Habits dominate everyone’s
lives. Most of the time, people get up and move through their lives on autopilot, acting out of
habit. If those habits are positive, great. If they’re not, you must change them. Negative habits
hold you down. Positive habits support you.

Here, Olson provides basic but worthy advice: Cultivate some simple positive habits:
showing up, acting consistently, having a “positive outlook” and committing for the “long
haul.” To be successful, make “burning desire backed by faith” a habit. Many people want
things, but can’t imagine getting them, so their desire crumbles. Seeing and feeling the goals
you want as being real and possible is essential. So is being willing to do what it takes to
reach your objectives. That means making tough decisions about how you use your time and
cutting out things that don’t help.

Olson urges you to take three simple steps to reach your goals. First, write your goals. Pick
areas to improve, and make those desires more specific. List exactly what to change and
when that change will be complete. Second, review your written goals regularly: The most
successful people review theirs at least twice a day. Third, create a plan to reach those goals.
Plans don’t have to be perfect, and you can always change them. The purpose of a plan is not
to do things one specific way, but to get in motion toward your goals. As Olson stresses
throughout his book, the purpose of your plan is to start.

Old But New

Olson never conceals that he is drawing from many sources. He makes it plain that he’s
taking you through much of the existing literature on self-improvement, developing positive
daily habits and learning how to stay out of your own way. The downside of Olson’s use
of existing work is that much of what he says you have heard before. The upside is that Olson
is a skilled guide and a skilled editor. Even though he devolves into a certain New Age-speak
at times and uses simplistic metaphors, he does distill the essence of the methods you need to
develop better habits. He does not over-write or spend too much time on any idea. He likes
blunt talk, and this straightforward style suits his guidance, which is also blunt and
straightforward. This makes Olson’s guidebook valuable. Just skip anything you already
know and focus on his structured system for manifesting positive change.

About the Authors

Jeff Olson, who has been guiding people on the road to personal development for decades,
founded several successful marketing and sales organizations.

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