This book has to be one of the best books ever written on execution. Jeff Olson is a very successful businessman and what sets this book apart is that he talks about philosophy. Has he ever driven to the office and once he got there he almost forgot that he was driving? Basically, the habit of driving is so ingrained that it doesn’t require any thought. This is the whole concept of mild edge behavior.
Why is this important to me? Think about these 9 amazing stats:
1. The average American consumes 158 pounds of sugar a year. Processed sugar creates mood swings and deep crashes.
2. 33% of adults are obese
3. 33% of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
4. 42% of college graduates never read another book after college.
5. There were 1.5 million NEW bankruptcy filings in the last 12 months.
6. Big pharmaceutical companies make billions of dollars each year from Ritalin, Prozac, Xanax, and other mind-altering drugs.
7. 43% of American families spend more than they earn each year
8. The average household has $8,000 in credit card debt.
9. The average person spends 26 hours per week watching television and surfing the web.
These are all examples of mild edge misbehaviors. The great Jim Rohn said, “What is easy to do is also easy not to do.” This statement has real power and is the key to true success and happiness, however you define it.
The slight edge is always working. The human condition dictates that you are expanding or contracting. There is no steady state.
When a baby is born, it is one day closer to death. This is not something cruel, it is just our reality. It is this paradox that makes life so precious.
If you had a choice of $1 million dollars today or your money doubled every day for 31 days starting with a penny, what would you do? Two people out of ten would choose the penny. The other 8 would take the million dollars. After 31 days of doubling, you would have $10 million dollars. This is the concept of compound interest – the eighth wonder of the world. By the way, 8 people would simply hand over their financial future to a stockbroker or financial planner without taking responsibility for the results. I guess that’s why everyone’s retirement is in question. – WISDOM is expensive!
The slight edge works the same way. If you eat a Big Mac and large fries today, you’re not unhealthy today, but eat three meals a day for 30 days and you’ll nearly kill yourself. See the movie Super Size me for more details.
Simply put, the slight edge is the daily habits you make that can magnify your results with very simple changes. Think about this for a minute. If you cut out 145 calories a day, that’s one can of soda, do you know that in three years you’ll lose 45 pounds? This is a very simple thing to do and a very simple thing NOT to do. For the number freaks, here’s the math: 145 calories x 1,095 days / 3,500 equals 45 pounds. The opposite is true if you add 145 calories per day. Result 45 pounds of additional pleasure!
Taking inventory can be one of the most important and amazing things you will ever do. You’ll see things you had no idea you were doing or how much it really adds up.
I challenge you to take an inventory of how you spend your time. For a week, catalog what you do from the time you get up to the time you go to bed. If you drive to work, do you listen to the morning radio or a learning CD? How long is the switch? When you get home, do you have a beer and turn on the TV for the next 4 hours until you go to bed?
Now catalog where you spend your money. For a week, write down every penny you spend and you’ll be amazed at what you spend. The point of doing this sheds light on what is really going on in your life.
Remember the example of the slight advantage of adding or subtracting only 145 calories per day? The result after three years is a 90-pound differential. Everything you do has a slight edge effect and it is simply up to you whether that effect is positive or negative.
The Slight Edge is a great book and I could go on writing about the effects this book has had on me. About 18 months ago, I increased my reading requirements each week using the slight edge philosophy. Using this philosophy has made a huge difference in my effectiveness at work, as well as in creating this website.
My take on this is really simple. Your average book is around 200 pages long and the authors typically have 20 years of solid experience in their field, if they are any good at all. If you read just 12 books a year, you will acquire 240 man-years of knowledge. If you really think about this, then you can achieve anything. This is the essence of light edge behavior.
I hope you have found this brief summary useful. The key to any new idea is to work it into your daily routine until it becomes a habit. Habits are formed in as little as 21 days.
One thing you can take away from this book is to understand the slight advantage. This is more of a philosophy, but understand that each daily routine you do has a compounding effect over time in a positive or negative way. The slight edge is always working. Think of this as you would gravity. You may believe it doesn’t exist, but jump off a four-story building and you’ll know gravity exists. This is the same with slight edge behavior.
