The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness

by Jeff Olson

Your philosophy is what you know, how you hold what you know, and how it affects what you do.

The formula for success is quite simple: Double your rate of failure.

There is a natural progression to everything in life: plant, cultivate, harvest.

For years I kept our family living on $4,000 a month, no matter how much my income increased, and I wouldn’t let us raise that monthly threshold until I had a million dollars (after taxes) in the bank. Then I raised it to $5,000.

Without the slight edge, you can start with a million and lose it all. With the slight edge, you can start with a penny and accomplish anything you want.

They do the thing, and gain the power.

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. They may not realize they have a philosophy, but they do, and it goes like this: What I do right now doesn’t really matter.

The secret to the 5 percent’s success is always in mundane, easy things that anyone could do. People don’t consistently do those simple things for three reasons: 1) while they’re easy to do, they are also easy not to do; 2) you don’t see any results at first; 3) they seem insignificant, like they don’t matter. But they do.

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. You already have everything you need to achieve everything you want.

says, “You want a miracle, Bruce? Be the miracle.” Once you absorb the slight edge way of being, you’ll stop looking for that quantum leap—and start building it. You’ll stop looking for the miracle, and start being the miracle.

want the world to be better because I was here. I want my life, my work, my family to mean something. If you are not making someone else’s life better you are wasting your time. Your life will only become better by helping make other lives better. He says he learned this from his grandmother, who told him, “If you’re going to be here, there’s a necessity to make a difference.”

That’s a choice based on a philosophy. Successful people understand that time is their friend. In every choice I make, every course of action I take, I always have time in mind: time is my ally. That, too, is a choice based on a philosophy.

Either you let go of where you are and get to where you could be, or you hang onto where you are and give up where you could be.

Do the thing, and you shall have the power. And note: this is not a reversible philosophy. You can’t go get the power and then do the thing—though

Perhaps you’ve heard it said that your income tends to equal the average of the incomes of your five best friends. It’s true, and the same principle applies not only to your finances but to every aspect of your life.

Each and every incomplete thing in your life or work exerts a draining force on you, sucking the energy of accomplishment and success out of you as surely as a vampire stealing your blood. Every incomplete promise, commitment, or agreement saps your strength because it blocks your momentum and chokes off your ability to move forward, progress, or improve. Incomplete things keep calling you back to the past to take care of them.

Game changing

Here’s a powerful exercise: Instead of writing down what you’re going to do (chances are you’ve been doing that your whole adult life anyway, and it doesn’t make you any better at doing them), write down at the end of the day what you did do that day. What actions did you take today that made you successful? Did you read ten pages of a good book? Did you eat healthy food and get some good exercise? Did you engage in positive associations? Did you do the things you need to do to be successful in your business? Did you tell somebody, “I appreciate you”?

The power of a plan is not that it will get you there. The power of a plan is that it will get you started.