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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “This is a book comes highly recommended by our friends Ron Brice and Dr. Timothy Booth, Pastor. What is the Slight Edge and how do you get it? Statistics show that 95% of people are failing or falling short of their goals. What are the 5% doing that the 95% are not? Jeff Olson explains in his...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Concepts introduced are very instrumental in achieving success of any kind. Want huge success, then pay attention to the little insignificant daily actions that don't seem like they matter ... because they make all the difference!”
Cathy Mahady wrote this review Sunday, September 13 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A book that should be read before you read any self-help book”
Higgles wrote this review Monday, August 17 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Nothing revolutionary but The Slight Edge served as a great reminder that the small things we do matter.”
Jim Hayes wrote this review Saturday, June 20 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“by Mike Wright
Mike Wright wrote this review Friday, June 19 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Book Report (June 2009)
The Slight Edge – Jeff Olson
The June 2009 book that I chose for my personal objectives on my Personal Development Plan (PDP) was the 2005 book entitled The Slight Edge. In essence “The Slight Edge” is a journey for continuous improvement (aka ‘CI’).
If you have read any of my previous book reports, it will be of no surprise to you, that for me, in order for a book to be credible, the person has got to have “fruit on the trees” in their chosen subject matter. Jeff Olson is such a person. He has created four different, separate, independent multimillion-dollar organizations. Obviously he may have “lucked” into one of these organizations, but not four. He also serves as a success coach to very successful individuals. It is my belief that when someone has this kind of success they are worth listening to. Because even if you are not looking to be a multimillionaire, the discipline these successful people engage in to become a multimillionaire, spills over into every aspect of their life. Your homework (if you choose to accept it) is to define for yourself how you define success. Generally speaking, there probably are some aspects of “greater time” or “greater money” involved in your definition of success.
This book’s premise is there is a “secret” to a successful life, and in reality, in order to achieve a successful life, it is quite simple. This caught my attention very quickly, as I am a “simple guy”…some may say a “simpleton” . Be that as it may, here repeated over and over in every chapter at least once is the essence of the book:
Why are only 5% of people successful? Because even though the everyday actions of successful people are easy to do, they’re also easy not to do, and while anyone could do them, most won’t.
Hmmm, that statement interested me when I read it, as it sounded like anyone could do what the successful are doing. So the next question to myself was, “Why wouldn’t everyone be doing these everyday actions?”. According to the book, it is just as easy as stepping into the habit of succeeding, as it is to slip into the habit of failing. Because you may not see the results quickly at first by implementing “The Slight Edge”, you will become frustrated. When you become frustrated, nineteen out of twenty people can not handle the frustration, so they quit.
To state the premise of the book another way, the entire book can be boiled down from one of the quotes in the book.
“The law of nature is, Do the thing, and you shall have the power: but they who do not the thing have not the power.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Compensation (Essays: First Series, 1841)
The author goes on to say that “how to do it” is not the issue. If “how to do it” were the answer it would be done. The secret ingredient is “your philosophy” or you could say “your thinking”. The secret is to change the way you think. If you don’t change your thinking, no amount of “How-to’s” will offer a real solution. The author suggests that what he is talking about is not difficult to do. For example, people start diets all the time. The thinking is correct, the problem is not that their actions are wrong. There attitudes are great as well, so a great attitude can’t be the ultimate key to success. The problem is that people by human nature, don’t continue to keep doing the little correct things long enough to see the results. As Steven Covey says, “Internal Results precede External Results.”. Today you’re excited about getting fit. You feel like doing 20 sit ups. Great! But what if tomorrow you just don’t feel like doing it? Successful people don’t want to do it either, they just choose to do it even though they don’t want to do it.
Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. There is a natural progression to everything in life: plant, cultivate, harvest. It’s having faith in the process of simple, positive actions repeated over time, the faith that miracles do happen – if you know when to trust the process and keep going.
As I have wrote about in some of the other books reviewed in my book reports, only one person in twenty is achieving a significant measure of his or her goals in life: financial, professional, personal, marital, spiritual, etc., or whatever terms you want to look at. Ninety-five percent are either failing or falling short. So, what are the five percent doing? If you learn to understand and apply the “Slight Edge”, in time – and chances are, less time than you would imagine – you will have what you want. You will be among the five percent. You will achieve those aims, goals, and dreams by doing simple things. Simple little disciplines done consistently over time, will add up to the biggest accomplishments.
So what kind of “simple things” can I do to be in the successful 5%? Here are just a few mentioned in the book:
- Read just ten pages of a good book, a book aimed at improving your life, every day.
- Listen to a self-improvement CD for at least 15 minutes every day.
- Replace an unwanted habit with another habit that you want to establish. Do it for 21 days in a row without missing a day, and you will have a new positive habit.
- Associate with people that have obtained mastery in the field that you would like to obtain.
- Double your rate of failure.
- Start something…anything…because if you don’t at least start…you can never finish.
- Finish something…anything, because the world is full of starters, but only 5% are finishers.
So when the author coaches the successful who pay for his services, he is often asked “What’s the one thing I can do to guarantee my success?”. His answer is always the same - “Be here, actively immersed in the process, one year from now.”
To recap, the formula for success is a few simple disciplines, repeated every day. The formula for failure is a few simple errors in judgment, repeated every day. Knowing this, realize that time can be your friend, or your enemy – you choose. Be careful what you think. Because what you think, multiplied by action plus time, will create what you get. Your optimal rate of growth is always served best by a step-by-step approach of constant, never-ending improvement, which lays a solid foundation and builds upon itself over time. “The Slight Edge” of simple disciplines compounded over time unlocks your optimal rate of growth. The best thing about genuine success is that it spreads! Improve your health and you improve your relationship; work on your personal development and you have an impact on your career. Etc. etc. etc. Success is circular…everything affects everything.
I’ll leave you to ponder the famous Chinese proverb that states “The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step”. But remember, the journey starts with a single step – not with “thinking” about taking a step! The next step is for you to choose. But remember, by not stepping you are choosing by default.
Reviewer’s (my) comments: Personally I loved this book. The stories, examples and techniques on how to build a more successful life by applying “The Slight Edge” were fantastic. The three short stories at the beginning of the book setup the entire foundation of the details in the book that follows. In order to get in touch with a lot of the detail, you will need to read the book. So my recommendation is, surprisingly enough, to read this book and start applying some wisdom contained within this book that speaks to you. This will help you in coming one step closer to whatever goal in life you have. If you say you don’t have a goal in life, then you definitely need to read this book .
I would rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.
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“Beautyful peace of reading, great motivation and tips to jump start your life and feeling about your life. Provides intense input as to how you need to think and treat yourself, everybody around you and all things relative to your life in your persuite of happiness. It also goes to explain that financial stability is not the only measure of success but personal fulfilment is also vital on your way to success. One thing one should always keep in mind is that success will not come overnight, it will be the result of hard work and determination accompanied by certain disciplines that you commit yourself to and not letting them go. Because of the way you think and handle your lifes issues can actually be the result of your downfall or your uprising. Read more about this book later.”
Musa M wrote this review Thursday, April 23 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“In all the book i read, this should be the ist book you must read, you will find out why after reading! it was a fantastic Book! I loved it! ”
Luisa A wrote this review Friday, May 23 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Awesome book to read. Jeff very clearly makes the recipe of success and how easily we miss the slight edge. I suggest this book to be the must read for everyone.”
Aashish G wrote this review Thursday, January 3 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No1 of 1 members found this review helpful“This is a book comes highly recommended by our friends Ron Brice and Dr. Timothy Booth, Pastor. What is the Slight Edge and how do you get it? Statistics show that 95% of people are failing or falling short of their goals. What are the 5% doing that the 95% are not? Jeff Olson explains in his book, THE SLIGHT EDGE, how you can achieve your goals in life, whether they be financial, professional, personal, marital, spiritual, improved health, etc. Remember, "It's never too late to start, but it's always too late to wait!"”
Kevin & Regina King wrote this review Saturday, December 1 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I have read lots of Self Improvement books through the years. I wish I had read this one first. Jeff Olsen does a great job of articulating that one little extra piece of the success formula that most of us intuitively know is missing.
Dan C wrote this review Friday, November 16 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
"Easy to do; Easy not to do." Such a concept.”
