52 pages • 1 hour read
The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness
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Part 2, Chapters 15-19Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2, Chapter 15 Summary: “Cultivate Slight Edge Habits”
Habits, both good and bad, are a powerful part of the slight edge. Typically, people tend to focus on their bad habits and aim to quit them. Rather than trying to break bad habits by not doing something, Olson suggests replacing bad habits with better ones. Everyone has many habits, things they may even be unaware of because habits usually form automatically. Olson stresses the importance of building intentional, positive habits that become automatic, so those little daily decisions you make can add up great results. There are seven core habits that are important for success: showing up, being consistent, maintaining a positive outlook, staying committed long-term, having a desire based on faith, paying the price, and practicing integrity.
Olson supplies anecdotes to explain how these habits function. His daughter consistently attended difficult college courses, which allowed her to achieve academic success in a highly competitive institution just by being there and doing the work regularly. Positive outlooks are important because philosophy affects attitude, which impacts actions and, therefore, results. For example, people who look for the good in their relationships will find more of it and build happier, longer-lasting relationships as a result. Olson adds a caveat that, of course, no one is happy all the time and suggests it’s important to persist in spite of the days that are hard.
Being committed to a goal long-term is also important because it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill. The only way to commit to that amount of time doing something is to have a true burning desire to do it and a belief that it’s achievable. Of course, spending 10,000 hours doing something requires certain sacrifices, like how Olson had to give up playing softball to make more time for his professional goals. It doesn’t have to be a dramatic sacrifice, but everything has a cost. Olson points out that the cost of not accomplishing a goal probably outweighs the sacrifices that are needed to get there.
Lastly, integrity is important to cultivate even when no one is there to observe what you do. Olson attributes personal integrity to the success of entrepreneurs because the little decisions a person makes when they’re alone are the foundation for the life they build. The book includes a link to social media with the opportunity to post about habits.
There are two personal stories in this chapter. One features a boxer who applied discipline to become a champion. The other covers a man who had everything—a good job and a family with five kids—and lost it all: he went broke and had to pay child support while divorced from his wife. The man bounced back when he ruthlessly pursued his goals, persisting in the face of failure. The key points cover the types of habits, the ways habits and choices inform a person’s life, methods for overcoming bad habits, and the seven positive habits essential for the slight edge.
Part 2, Chapter 16 Summary: “Three Steps to Your Dreams”
Olson states that there are three steps to achieving a dream: writing it down, looking at it daily, and starting with a plan.
Writing down a dream in specific terms, including the what and when, makes it tangible. Looking at this goal engages the brain in “autosuggestion: the power of regularly, consistently telling and retelling yourself what your goals are” (248). This acts as a reminder that the goal can be accomplished and is actually inevitable. Lastly, starting with a plan matters because it enables you to get started. It’s not about building a foolproof, step-by-step process that details all the minutiae needed to be successful. It’s just a springboard to launch an idea into action.
Olson offers an anecdote about how he wanted to start a branch of a business in Germany, and his plan was simple: “Find Germans.” While it ended up being pretty involved and taking a series of unlikely twists and turns to achieve that goal, the concept of finding Germans enabled him to get started so that eventually they could open a sales force in Germany. Dreams require boldness and action to achieve. For each step of the dream process, Olson provides spaces for readers to write and reflect about their dreams.
The personal story in this section comes from a woman who left the real estate industry to start her dream life by acknowledging her goal and beginning with a simple plan. The key points in this chapter include writing down the what and when of your dream, absorbing that dream daily, and planning to enact that dream.
Part 2, Chapter 17 Summary: “Living the Slight Edge”
This chapter focuses on how to live the slight edge in various domains of your life, including health, happiness, relationships, personal development, finances, career, and impact, with opportunities to write about it. Olson stresses the importance of every single thing, especially the little decisions. He claims that it starts with taking care of one’s health and flows out from there because success breeds more success. There is a link to publicly commit to living the slight edge of social media.
The personal stories in this chapter include a woman who decided to launch her health business using principles from the slight edge and a student who went from scraping by to building a study routine that earned them a commendation from President Obama. The key points from this chapter include writing out your goals for each domain of your life, building a plan, and establishing one daily habit toward achieving those goals.
Part 2, Chapter 18 Summary: “Where to Go from Here”
Olson revisits the key points of the book, including taking daily action to create habits and building positive relationships. He then directly addresses readers and confronts the fact that this chapter is short because there’s nothing more readers need to know to implement the slight edge in their lives. He directs readers to “[f]ind [their] penny. And then start doubling it” (280).
Part 2, Chapter 19 Summary: “A Personal Invitation”
Olson congratulates the reader for reaching the end of the book and acknowledges the paths readers can take from here: implementing the practices he’s suggested here or forgetting about them forever. He hopes that readers become a positive force for change in their lives, who can then positively impact others through a ripple effect. He invites readers to join the slight edge community on social media and signs his name like a letter.
Part 2, Chapters 15-19 Analysis
This final section focuses on gearing up the audience to take stock of their lives, evaluate their goals, and apply the slight edge. This approach involves using direct language to engage with readers and provides space for them to interact with the text by answering questions and mapping goals. Olson acknowledges that he cannot make anyone choose a certain path—that readers are free to set aside the book and forget about it. He also acknowledges the limitations of his work, such as the fact that it takes 10,000 hours to master something: a goal that is only achievable through dedication and sacrifice. However, Olson provides ways to implement his ideas and breaks down the habits and mindsets necessary to positively utilize the slight edge in order to ensure his recommendations are attainable. Chapter 16’s example of “finding Germans” as the first step to opening a business in Germany actualizes Olson’s philosophy on how to turn dreams into reality. Olson states that the big secret, which is only a secret due to the widespread impact of The Myth of Success in America, is that success is simple. It’s built on habit. It requires a positive mindset and daily action. It takes a single penny, a simple plan, and a burning desire to set into motion. There is no big secret or major takeaway beyond what Olson has shared upfront all along.
Olson taps into his sense of humor again to connect with the audience and provoke them into action. In the final chapter, “A Personal Invitation,” he congratulates the reader on finishing the book, but then teases, “[u]nless you’re doing what a lot of people do and thumbing through the last few pages” (281). His lighthearted anticipation of his readers’ behaviors creates a tone of familiarity with readers, implying that he understands the sorts of people who will gravitate toward his book: busy, hardworking people who are seeking realistic, attainable self-improvement. Olson builds trust through relatability throughout the book, and he ends on a similar tone of understanding: “[T]here’s nothing else you need to know. […] Your life is waiting” (278). This gentle prod forward empowers the reader to take action and offers the assurance that, if the reader has completed the book and the exercises within it, they are ready to implement the slight edge in their lives. However, Olson doesn’t leave readers to fend for themselves, either. In this section, like the previous, he includes links to social media pages that can act as a support network for anyone trying to implement these small but meaningful changes in their lives.
By giving readers space to explore independently, Olson shows that Success Isn’t Uniform. If it were, readers wouldn’t need the space to work out their own goals and imagine their ideal lives in various domains. He could simply share a step-by-step series of ideals that he has clearly implemented in his own life, which would, in theory, enable readers to reach the exact same type of success as Olson. This, of course, is impossible. Apart from people having different ideas of success and goals, the process also isn’t uniform. Olson even acknowledges that he is still working to improve the domains of his life every day because even though he’s happy and successful now, he likes being able to look back and see his growth into even greater happiness and success.
Olson closes on the idea that the journey to success isn’t linear, but it has to start somewhere. By coming full circle back to the idea of starting with a penny, like in the fable, he ends the book on a positive note with a message that achieving happiness is simple: You just have to get started.
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