What is the main message of The Slight Edge?

The main message of The Slight Edge is that small, consistent actions can lead to significant long-term results.

How long does it take to read The Slight Edge?

The reading time for The Slight Edge varies. However, the Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.

Who is the author of The Slight Edge?

The author of The Slight Edge is Jeff Olson.

Personal Development

The Slight Edge Book Summary - The Slight Edge Book explained in key points

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The Slight Edge summary

Name: The Slight Edge
Rating: 4.6 (382 reviews)
Author: Jeff Olson

Jeff Olson

Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness

4.6 (382 ratings)

20 mins

Brief summary

The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson is a self-help book that teaches how small daily choices can lead to massive success or failure. It highlights the importance of consistent, positive action in achieving our goals and living a fulfilling life.

Topics

Self-Help Success Routines & Habits Happy Decision-Making

Table of Contents

The Slight Edge
Summary of 7 key ideas

Audio & text in the Blinkist app

Key idea 1 of 7

What’s in it for me? Find out how getting the small things right can bring you success in life.

We all want more success in life. But if it doesn’t come instantly, we may get frustrated and give up. As any famous actor, athlete, or CEO will tell you, there’s no such thing as overnight success. Achieving greatness is often the culmination of years of making the right choices.

Every move you make – or fail to make – can change your life for better or for worse. And you may not realize it, but you already know how to do the things that make your life a success.

These blinks will tell you what these things are and how you can continue doing them.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

why we need to develop a life philosophy;
the importance of lifelong learning; and
seven key habits we must cultivate.

To achieve the slight edge, we need to develop a life philosophy and master the mundane.

According to U.S. News and World Report, 80 percent of all New Year’s resolutions fail by the second week of February! When we fail, we may think that we simply didn’t try hard enough or desire our goal enough.

However, the truth is that success is the result of simple, productive actions repeated consistently over time. This is known as the slight edge.

The key message here is: To achieve the slight edge, we need to develop a life philosophy and master the mundane.

When we look at successful people, it’s easy to think that they’re just exceptionally brilliant or have special skills that we don’t. But more often than not, that’s not the case.

Thanks to the abundance of self-help books, information about how to succeed in life is more widely available than ever before. But to really benefit from it, we need to apply it effectively.

That’s where developing a life philosophy comes in. A life philosophy is your view of life. It influences your attitudes, feelings – and, ultimately, your actions. And it’s powerful because it can change the way you think about simple, everyday tasks.

Consider the life philosophy of Thomas J Watson, the founder of IBM: “The formula for success is quite simple: Double your rate of failure.” Yet, many of us don’t consider failure an option. What we don’t understand is that the more we fail, the more chances we have to succeed.

Today, Abraham Lincoln is remembered as one of the most notable U.S. Presidents. But did you know that he suffered numerous election losses and public-office failures? For him, failure wasn’t just an option, it was his specialty. Doubling his rate of failure ultimately led him to the highest office, where he had a profound impact on the country that the United States is today.

Another way we can achieve the slight edge is by focusing on the mundane matters of life.

For example, Steve Martin is known as the single biggest audience draw in the history of stand-up comedy. But as a teenager, Martin couldn’t sing, dance, or act. So he worked at it. Day after day, he studied magic tricks, taught himself the banjo, and tried out lines on anyone who would listen. The things he did were neither complicated nor exciting. In fact, they were rather boring. But by mastering the mundane, Steve Martin became a star.

In the long run, the choices we make every day work either for us or against us.

When things happen to us, luck, circumstances or fate often get the praise, or the blame. In reality, it’s down to the choices we make – especially the little ones. Every choice we make leads to one of two destinations: success or failure.

The slight edge is not just a lifestyle that we may or may not choose to adopt. It’s always there, working in the background. If we don’t use it to our advantage, then it will work against us. We may not see the effects immediately, but the passage of time will eventually expose it. So how can we make the slight edge work in our favor?

People ignore mundane things in life because they are easy and seem insignificant – and because the results are invisible.

Only five percent of people achieve a significant number of their goals in life. So if being successful is just about doing simple things consistently, what stops the other 95 percent of people from following through?

Simply put, the five percent understand the power of the slight edge and put it to work in their lives. The other 95 percent do not.

Continuous lifelong learning and practice will help you benefit from the slight edge.

Making good choices will set you on the path to success, but it may not keep you there. It takes continuous, lifelong learning by any and every available means for the slight edge to keep working in your favor.

Reading ten pages of an inspirational and educational book every day can greatly enrich your life. Doing so would mean that you could finish a 300-page book every month. You could also listen to 15 minutes of life-transforming audio every day or take a course or a seminar every few months.

Momentum, completion, reflection, and celebration are the four slight edge allies.

Momentum is the irresistible force that can push us toward a goal. It takes energy and initiative to start a new activity. But once we get going, momentum takes over and keeps propelling us forward. Once we’re in motion, it becomes easier to make the positive changes needed to reach our goals.

To understand how momentum works, we can think about steering a car. While it’s stationary, it can be hard work getting the wheel to move. But once the car is in motion, steering the wheel is easy – no matter how slowly you’re moving.

Cultivate positive, productive habits that help you cope in any circumstances and achieve your dreams.

We all struggle to break bad habits, despite our best efforts. So here’s a tip: The easiest way to get rid of a bad habit is to replace it with a good one.

Good habits are a vital ingredient in reaching our goals. But establishing good habits requires action.

There are three steps to achieving our dreams – write them down, look at them every day, and develop a plan.

We all have dreams. Sadly, few come true, because we don’t know how to pursue them. But there is a tried-and-tested formula that works. And it’s quite easy. The first step in the formula is making our dreams real.

To do that effectively, we need to use our senses. That means putting our dreams down in words, or creating a dream board by using pictures. Even better, we could talk to someone else about them.

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Key ideas in The Slight Edge

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What is The Slight Edge about?

What’s it about?

The Slight Edge (2005) explores the power of all the small choices we make every day. Far from being insignificant, they are a step in our journey toward success or failure.

The Slight Edge Review

The Slight Edge (2013) is an enlightening book that explores the power of daily choices and how they can shape our lives. Here's why this book is worth reading:

Provides a practical roadmap for achieving success by making small, consistent actions that compound over time.
Offers inspiring stories and examples of ordinary individuals who have experienced extraordinary results, making it relatable and motivating.
Highlights the importance of personal development and how it can lead to long-term happiness and fulfillment in all areas of life.

Best quote from The Slight Edge

Successful people fail their way to the top.

—Jeff Olson

Who should read The Slight Edge?

Who’s it for?

Individuals wanting to achieve success in life
People trying to develop new habits or stop bad ones
Entrepreneurs who want to build successful businesses

About the Author

About the author

Jeff Olson has built multibillion-dollar sales and marketing organizations and hosted seminars in every major city in the US. He has also produced over 900 television programs with personal development legends such as Les Brown, Jim Rohn, and Brian Tracy.

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Personal Development

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