The-Slight-Edge

The 7 Slight Edge Principles 77
I had the distinct pleasure of teaching this principle to my daughter Amber
when she achieved her life-long goal of becoming a Gator at the University of
Florida. For those who know me there is no bigger fan of this school. I had spent
my daughter’s early years giving her not so subtle hints as to where she should go
when the time came to choose a college. I guess my prodding worked!
It was at her freshman orientation when I was able to share with Amber the
importance of showing up. We, along with thousands of other incoming freshmen
and their parents, were sitting in the audience when the dean of students announced
from the podium that they had 6,700 incoming freshmen that year. Of that group,
the average GPA average was a 4.0. The SAT scores were in the top 10 percent of
the nation. Intimidating words, to say the least. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to
motivate or scare them. Amber, I was afraid, was feeling the latter.
This would her first true competition since high school, where she also
averaged a 4.0 GPA. But she knew that her natural talents that got her to the top
of her high school class may not be enough to give her an upper hand in college.
To ease her anxiety we went out to dinner and the first question out of her
mouth before we ever sat down was “Dad, I’m going up against the best of the
best. What am I going to do to get an edge on my classmates?” Calmly but
surely, I said to her, “It’s going to be so easy to beat these students.” Amber
rolled her eyes and was a little worried what she was getting herself into.
What I shared with her were some simple philosophies that would lay the
foundation for her college career. I said, “First off, you can beat half of these kids
simply by showing up.” Sounds too easy, right? I could tell Amber was still a little
confused by the simplicity of my statement. But I wasn’t done. I told her, “If you
will also go to every single class, even when those around you will pressure you
to stay home, you will beat half these students by outlasting them.” I could tell
things were starting to click a little in her mind. Amber was already used to going
to school every day in high school. This was something she could do. She did it
for four years in high school. I could tell by the look on her face she was starting
to believe me. But the lesson had just begun.
No. 2: Be Consistent
In baseball, my theory is to strive for consistency,
not to worry about the numbers. If you dwell
on statistics you get shortsighted; if you aim for
consistency, the numbers will be there at the end.
— Tom Seaver