The-Slight-Edge

154 The Slight Edge
So take heart: by “disassociating,” I don’t necessarily mean cutting them out
of your life completely. But casual relationships deserve casual time—not quality
time. There are people with whom you can spend two minutes, but not two
hours. There are people with whom you can spend two hours, but not two days.
This part of Slight Edge thinking requires a compassionate awareness.
Having compassion and having direction are not mutually exclusive: they just
take careful thought and discernment. You’re not judging those people; you’re
simply asking yourself to be honest about whether or not those relationships are
empowering you and helping to support your purpose and realize your dreams.
Leadership
I’m often asked, “How do I become a leader?” In our push-button, instanteverything
world, like I said before, people often seem to want to take an express
route from the first stages of learning straight to leadership. But of course, it
doesn’t work that way.
How does it work? Leadership is not something you
“do”; it is something that grows organically out of
the natural rhythm of learning.
When you start at the beginning of anything, you’re at the highest level of
anxiety. As you learn—through study and doing, information and experience,
book smarts and street smarts—you gradually lower your level of anxiety by
raising your level of mastery.
As you continue climbing that ladder of knowledge (remember, right foot–
left foot, right foot–left foot, study–action, study–action) you keep your eyes
on worthy mentors, always using learning through modeling as your learning
gyroscope to keep you on track.
Using those three dimensions of learning—study, do, model—with Slight
Edge persistence, in time your level of mastery rises to the point where you
turn around and realize others are modeling you! You have become worthy of
emulating. The cream has become butter; the hyacinth of knowledge has covered
the pond of your effort. You have grown into leadership.
How do you become a leader? Through honestly pursuing the path of selfmastery
and continuous learning.
Your Mastermind
Of all the books I have ever encountered in my pursuit of excellence as well
as all the how-to’s of success, Napoleon Hill’s masterpiece Think and Grow Rich,