The Slight Edge: Doing the simple things to lead to success

One of my favorite books is The Slight Edge: Secret to a Successful Life by Jeff Olson. In the book, he reminds us that we need to do the simple things, every day, in order to be successful. Jeff Olson calls it the Slight Edge.

From the book:

Everything you need to do to transform your life is easy to do.

It’s easy to become healthy, fit and vibrant. It’s easy to become financially independent. It’s easy to have a happy family and a life rich with meaningful friendships.

Tapping into the Slight Edge means doing things that are easy. Simple little disciplines that, done consistently over time, will add up to the very biggest accomplishments.

It’s easy to have everything you ever wanted in your life. Every action that any of these goals requires is easy to do. Here’s the problem: every action that is easy to do, is also easy not to do.

Why are these simple yet crucial things easy not to do? Because if you don’t do them, they won’t kill you… at least not today. You won’t suffer, or fail or blow it – today. Something is easy not to do when it won’t bankrupt you, destroy your career, ruin your relationships or wreck your health – today.

What’s more, not doing it is usually more comfortable than doing it would be. But that simple, seemingly insignificant error in judgment, compounded over time, will kill you. It will destroy you and ruin your chances for success. You can count on it. It’s the Slight Edge.

That’s the choice you face every day, every hour:

A simple, positive action, repeated over time.

A simple error in judgment, repeated over time.

You can always count on the Slight Edge. And unless you make it work for you, the Slight Edge will work against you.

I challenge all of you to read this book before the end of the year. It is encouraging and deliberate, and it provides a looking glass through which we can examine where we currently are and where we want to be. Let’s all be our very best in the last quarter of 2013!