THE SLIGHT EDGE BY JEFF OLSON

Our Platinum Presidential’s asked me to do a book review of a book that had an impact on my life, and immediately the book ‘The Slight Edge’ by Jeff Olson came to mind.

I read the book about 5 years ago and am still experiencing the effect of it in my life. The Slight Edge is the type of book that can really impact your life from the word go.

If someone would ask me, if I have only one opportunity to give a friend a book that has the potential to change his/her life, what book would it be? Then I would, without a doubt, recommend The Slight Edge.

This book is basically about our everyday habits (that germinates from our life philosophies) that in the long run have a huge effect on our lives. It is about the power of simple disciplines.

Jeff starts the book with a story of a woman he meets at an airport who shines his shoes, she is full of energy and has a positive attitude, but she is obviously struggling financially.

Then he says: "What if, instead of spending ten or fifteen minutes here and there, tucked in between customers, sinking into the pages of those forgettable novels (here he refers to a stack paperback novels next to her shoeshine stand that she was reading whenever she had a spare moment), she had spent the last five years reading books that were genuinely life changing? What if that little stack of books included Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, or David Bach’s Smart Women Finish Rich? Where would she be today? The shoeshine woman was a hard worker. Good with people. She knew how to read and clearly enjoyed doing so. She was a superb communicator. She obviously had the talent, personality and basic life skills to accomplish a lot more than just living off tips from shining shoes".

Jeff then further says: "Your income tends to equal the average income of your five best friends. What if she had spent time around people with significantly higher incomes than her own? What if, instead of hanging out only with her colleagues here in the airport, she had cultivated a different group of friends? What if she’d been associating with powerful people, successful people, mentors, movers, shakers, leaders? She could easily have done this —she’s a terrific conversationalist. If she had, where would she be today?"

Then he thinks of his own life and how he came from that same place as the 'shoeshine woman', and what made the difference for him, saying: "For whatever reason, as happens in so many people’s lives, I found myself staring squarely at a fork in the road, a point I now refer to as a “day of disgust,” that moment of impact we sometimes hit in our lives when we face our circumstances and make a decision to change”.

“That was when I began to discover and explore the Slight Edge - the power of simple disciplines".

While walking through the airport towards his boarding gate, Jeff watched the people passing him, and wrote: "Why does everyone look so … down? Everything these people need to know to change their lives for the better is already available. All the information they could possibly need to put them on a path of extraordinary success and fulfilment is out there, in books and CDs, DVDs and workshops. There are people to help them — rich, living resources to guide them, be their mentors, teachers, coaches and allies”.

“I knew that the difference between who they are and who they could be wasn’t based on any lack of good information. It was all already available. But why, if the information is all there, all the resources are there, and these people really do want to succeed, aren’t they doing it?”

Then he came to the following conclusion: “The problem, I shouted out in my head, is that they don’t have a way to process the information. There’s no framework in place for them to take in all the extraordinary insight that’s out there and put it to work in their life. If only they were aware of the Slight Edge. If only they knew what it was doing in their life and how easy it is to have the Slight Edge working for them — instead of against them. If only they were making the right choices, doing those simple, little disciplines that would change their life for the better forever … where would they be five years from today? If only they learned to recognize the Slight Edge ... If only ...”

“This book is a precursor to help you use that information. This book is what I hope will help you take whatever information you want, whatever how-to’s or strategies or goals or aspirations, and turn them into the life you want. This book is what I wish I could have put into that sweet and sad shoeshine woman’s hands”.

His conclusion is then that: “the main reason for my success — and the success of other influential people around the world — continues to be the daily application of the philosophy I am going to share with you called the Slight Edge”.

What he came to realize is that: “information about how to become successful has always been readily available, but if the person absorbing that information doesn’t have the right philosophy to apply it the right way, success will elude their grasp”.

What the Slight Edge philosophy is meant to do is give you a philosophy that will become a filter for every decision you make. It will give you a way to apply great information into your life in a way that will produce lasting results. It is the missing ingredient to making change happen! If you understand the Slight Edge philosophy then you can effectively apply any sound principle or action into your life with success. And that is a 100% guarantee!

My dear fellow Mannatech associates, we need to ask ourselves, what I am doing with my life. How can I be more successful? What are my present philosophy's that got me where I am now and what must change in me for my future to change?

I really want to recommend that you study this book over and over till that change startsmanifesting in your life.

Thank you Louis & Leone van der Linde for who you are and what you stand for, and thank you Vintz & Yolande vd Linde for being my coaches in this absolutely amazing, life changing partnership opportunity with Mannatech.

Let’s go change the world, let’s go Platinum!

Sebastiaan Kamstra