The-Slight-Edge

122 The Slight Edge
It’s not hard to understand why so many people make that second choice.
After all, when you’re standing here at point A, gazing off into the distance at
point B, it’s easy to be intimidated by how far away it looks. People don’t even
want to set foot on the path if they don’t think they can make it to the end. Why
even try? I mean, if the mountain’s that huge, why take the first step? I’ll probably
never make it anyway ... When the journey seems daunting, “easy not to do” can
be a lot more appealing than “easy to do”!
But remember, you have to go one direction or the other; you can’t stand
still. Everything is constantly changing. There are only two possibilities. 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. You are either going for your
dreams or giving up your dreams. Stretching for what you could be, or settling
for what you are. There is simply no in-between. Remember, this is the Slight
Edge—and doing nothing means going down.
It’s your choice.
The Deceptive Majority
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is
ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it
is accepted as being self-evident.
— Arthur Schopenhauer
Those two Slight Edge curves, the success curve and the failure curve, run
parallel to each other for a long time. The two paths may be so close together
that it’s almost impossible for most people even to see the distinction between
them. Then, all of a sudden, they veer away from each other, the success curve
shooting up like an eagle and the failure curve plummeting downward like a
stock market crash.
The people living on top, who take responsibility, live a life that is in some
ways uncomfortable. Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not
willing to do, and that often means living outside the limits of one’s comfort zone.
When you’re one out of twenty, you’re always going to be going in the opposite
direction from the other nineteen.
The people on the other side are comfortable; they’re with the masses. Their
lives are more comfortable early on—but become more uncomfortable later on.
Suddenly, late in life, they find they don’t have the finances, don’t have the health,
no longer have the relationships, and their lives become very uncomfortable.