The-Slight-Edge

They won’t. The wistful, wouldn’t-it-be-nice pretendings of maybefutures
do not insert themselves into your reality of their own accord.
You’ve got to go claim them. Ask yourself: “What is there in my life that
I hold as ‘Some day ... ’?”
Some day ... The eighth day of the week. The only day that never comes.
This is the day—this one. Right here. Right now.
— John David Mann, The Eighth Day of the Week
Abraham Lincoln spoke about taking twice as long to sharpen the axe as to
hack at the tree. In your life, you are the axe; the Slight Edge is how you sharpen
it. Sharpen yourself and pursue your path through those simple, small, easy
disciplines, and compounded over time, they will take you to the top.
Do one simple, daily discipline in each of these five key areas of your life—
your health, your personal development, your relationships (which includes
family), your finances, and your life overall (which includes the meaning and
purpose of your life)—that forwards your success in each of those areas ...
Make a habit of doing some sort of daily review of these Slight Edge
activities, either through keeping a journal, a list, working with a Slight Edge
buddy, a coach, or some other regular, consistent means ...
Spend high-quality time with men and women who have achieved goals and
dreams similar to yours; in other words, model successful mentors, teachers,
gurus, masters and allies, and do it daily, weekly and monthly ...
... and you will find yourself on the success curve—and you will turn your
dreams into realities.
Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do; they
put the Slight Edge to work for them, rather than against them, every day. They
refuse to let themselves be swayed by their feelings, moods or attitudes; they rule
their lives by their philosophies, and do what it takes to get the job done, whether
they feel like it or not.
Successful people don’t look for shortcuts, nor do they hope for the “big
breakthrough.” They are always open to quantum leaps, knowing that such
opportune moments do present themselves from time to time, but they focus on
sticking to their knitting and doing what they’ve put in front of themselves to do.
They step onto the path of mastery and once having set foot there, they stay on
that path throughout their lives.
Successful people never blame circumstances or other people; instead,
they take full responsibility for their lives. They use the past as a lesson but
do not dwell in it, and instead, let themselves be pulled up and forward by the