More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
When people are looking down the barrel of failure in their lives, they will do whatever it takes to get themselves moving, something, anything, to start climbing upward toward the point of survival. And then, once they get to the point where they’re keeping their heads above water, they start heading back down again. As they start getting close enough to the failure line that they can see it coming, they go, “Whoops, I’m headed towards failure!” and then they do whatever it takes to turn their trajectory around and start heading back up … and the cycle repeats.
Amazing how accurate this is.
And if you can survive, then you can succeed. You don’t need to do some brilliant, impossible thing. You don’t need to learn some insanely difficult skills, or have some genius-level brainstorm of an innovative idea. All you have to do is keep doing the things that got you this far.
You already know how to do everything it would take to make you an outrageous success. All you have to do is keep doing the things that have gotten you this far.
You have complete control over the direction that the rest of your life takes.
No matter how much information there is, and no matter how good that information is, if the person consuming it doesn’t have the right catalyst, the catalyst that will allow them to apply that information effectively, then success will still elude their grasp.
All new information needs a catalyst in order to apply and see the effects of such new information. JM 10/27/17
Because a diet without the slight edge, a gym membership without the slight edge, a solid and intelligently designed business plan without the slight edge, is like a plant without water.
The secret ingredient is your philosophy.
By “your philosophy,” all I mean is changing the way you think about simple everyday things.
If you don’t change how you think about these simple everyday things, then no amount of how-to’s will get you anywhere or give you any true solutions.
Focusing on the actions, the what-to-dos and the how-to-do-its, is not enough, because it’s the attitude behind the actions that keep those actions in place.
A positive philosophy turns into a positive attitude, which turns into positive actions, which turns into positive results, which turns into a positive lifestyle. A positive life. And a negative philosophy turns into a negative attitude, which turns into negative actions, which turns into negative results, which turns into a negative lifestyle.
So much truth!
There are two prevalent types of attitudes: entitled and value-driven. A value-driven attitude says, “What can I do to help you?” An entitled attitude says, “What have you done for me lately?” An entitled attitude says, “Pay me more, and then maybe I’ll work harder.” A value-driven attitude says, “I’ll work harder, and then I expect you’ll pay me more.”
The contrast is very real between my wife and me.
The formula for success is quite simple: Double your rate of failure.
Successful people fail their way to the top.
Your philosophy is your view of life, something beyond feelings and attitudes. Your philosophy drives your attitudes and feelings, which drive your actions.
Your philosophy creates your attitudes, which create your actions, which create your results, which create your life.
“I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. You get busy living, or get busy dying.
the things you do every single day, the things that don’t look dramatic, that don’t even look like they matter, do matter.
The slight edge is relentless and cuts both ways: simple daily disciplines or simple errors in judgment, repeated consistently over time, make you or break you.
The simple things that lead to success are all easy to do. But they’re also just as easy not to do.
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. It’s just a matter of mastering the mundane—of repeating simple little disciplines that, done consistently over time, will add up to the very biggest accomplishments.
The things that create success in the long run don’t look like they’re having any impact at all in the short run.
Failure is just as gradual.
The difference between success and failure is not dramatic. In fact, the difference between success and failure is so subtle, so mundane, that most people miss it.
What you do today matters.
You need an ally.
The secret of time is simply this: time is the force that magnifies those little, almost imperceptible, seemingly insignificant things you do every day into something titanic and unstoppable.
consistently repeated daily actions + time = inconquerable results.
“The highest good is like water. It gives life to the ten thousand things [that’s ancient Chinese for “everything in the universe”], yet does not compete with them. It flows in places that the mass of people detest—and therefore it is close to the Tao.”
Successful people form habits that feed their success, instead of habits that feed their failure.
Every decision you make is a slight edge decision.
Your success becomes inevitable. You just need to stay in the process long enough to give it a chance to win.
Pioneers don’t know what’s out there, but out there, they go anyway.
Courage means to have a purpose and to have heart.
In relation to everything—our kids, our health, our home, our career—we tick through the hours in constant regret and Monday-morning-quarterbacking about what’s behind us, and with worry, anxiety, and dread about what lies ahead.
The Slight Edge is all about living in the moment.
It’s not a question of your mood or your feelings. And it’s not a question of will power. It’s a question of simply knowing.
There is a natural progression to success: plant, cultivate, harvest—and the central step, cultivate, can only happen over the course of time.
“Some day my prince will come.…” Good old Walt Disney. Well, that may have worked out for Snow White. Back here on Earth, it’s a recipe for disappointment.
Ha! This guy could be my twin with statements like this.
Have I got some sobering news for you: “some day” doesn’t exist, never has, and never will. There is no “some day.” There’s only today. When tomorrow comes, it will be another today; so will the next day. They all will. There is never anything but today.
And some more shocking news: your ship’s not coming—it’s already here. Docked and waiting. You already have the money. You already have the time. You already have the skill, the confidence.
Luck is when that constancy of preparedness eventually creates opportunity.
Believing in the “big break” is worse than simply being futile. It’s actually dangerous, because it can keep you from taking the actions you need to take to create the results you want.
If you don’t have money handled, you don’t live free. Financial health gives you freedom; freedom to follow your passions, chase your pursuits, develop your skills and talents and gifts, to fulfill the promises of life itself.
Success doesn’t lead to happiness—it’s the other way around.
Choose happiness, the success will follow.
when it comes to understanding how to achieve happiness, most of us have it backward. We believe, “Once I become successful, then I’ll be happy.” Or, “Once I become healthier … once I find that relationship … once I’m living where I want to live … once my income is high enough to manage my life without stress … then I’ll be happy.” But that’s not how it works. Oh, we think it does. We all assume that’s the way things work. If I do this, and I do it long enough, then I’ll be happy. That makes sense. But it’s just not what happens. In fact, says the research, it works exactly the opposite way.
...more
The more you raise your own happiness level, the more likely you’ll start achieving all those things you want to achieve.
“Be happy, and the reason will appear.”
“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.”
