The-Slight-Edge

is Time on Your Side? 53
have heart. Once you are aware of and understand how to use the Slight Edge,
you will naturally have both—purpose and the strength of heart to stay on
that purpose.
The important point is to start on the path and to
remember that no matter what has gone on before,
you can begin fresh and new and at any time you can
choose to start with a clean slate.
How long will it take? How long before you will actually see and feel (and
smell and touch and be able to spend and enjoy and appreciate) the results? How
long before you will have the experience of the success you’re seeking?
Obviously, it’s impossible for either of us to say exactly how long. But the
truth is, in three to five years, you can put virtually anything in your life onto
the right track. Think of what you were doing three years ago: it seems like
yesterday, doesn’t it? Well, three years from now, the things you’re doing right
now will seem like only yesterday, too. Yet this brief little period of time can
change your life.
How long will it take? Chances are it will take longer than you want it to ...
and when the time arrives, you’ll be astonished at how quick it seemed.
Patience is not an issue for the water hyacinth. It simply goes about its
business, calmly, quietly doubling, until it covers the pond. You can do the same.
Serene, I fold my hands and wait,
Nor care for wind, nor tide, nor sea;
I rave no more ’gainst time or fate,
For lo! my own shall come to me.
—John Burroughs, Waiting
The Slight Edge guarantees that your own shall come to you, like the water
hyacinth covering the pond. The way your own shows up, good or bad, failure
or success, win or lose, is, moment by moment, up to you. You need not “care for
wind, or tide, or sea ...”—but you do need to care for those simple little actions
which, compounded over time, will make the difference between your success
or failure.
The problem is that most of us live with one foot planted firmly in the past
and the other tucked timidly in the future—never in the moment. In relation
to everything—our kids, our health, our home, our career—we tick through the
hours in constant regret and Monday-morning-quarterbacking about what’s
behind us, and with worry, anxiety and dread about what lies ahead.