The-Slight-Edge

86 The Slight Edge
Showing up consistently with a good attitude for a short period of time isn’t
going to cut it. You’ve got to show up consistently with the good attitude, being
patient and persistent for a long time to create lasting change.
There is a great book called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell that illustrates this
point perfectly. There is a chapter in the book where he brings to light his research
into some of the most important industries—software and manufacturing giants,
educators, the military—and how many hours go into making a product good
enough to where they are ready to sell it on the open market. What they found
was it took about 10,000 hours before they really got good at it. That’s 40 hours
a week, times five years.
Like these industry giants, you’ve got to show up with the good attitude and
you’ve got to put in your 10,000 hours or more before you come close to mastering
anything, let alone golf, which will take a bit longer … like your lifetime!
That’s the reason why I wrote The Slight Edge, to show people there is no
shortcut to success. No matter what you are trying to accomplish, you need to ask
yourself, Am I willing to put in 10,000 hours or more to get what I want?
Give Yourself Time
I’ve been around the personal-development world for a long time. While I
was CEO of The People’s Network, we were the largest producers of personaldevelopment
content in the United States. I was blessed to be sitting in that
position during the most exciting time in personal-development history.
The one problem I noticed within the personal-development arena is those
who buy into the “Quantum Leap” theory as discussed in Chapter 5. In order
for authors to sell books, they need to convince you that their program is going to
change your life in a certain amount of time. Most people are looking for a quick
fix and aren’t interested in learning the truth: that success doesn’t come overnight
or even in few weeks or months. It takes a lot of time and a lot of hard work.
Take the story of The Slight Edge reader Tray Honeycutt from Victorville,
California. He struggled with his weight for many years and he just couldn’t seem
to make any changes. He was looking for the quantum leap answer. Two days after
finishing the book he decided to put the Slight Edge to the test. Over the course of
40 weeks he lost 60 pounds, and got in such good shape that he became a personal
trainer and started teaching the principles of The Slight Edge to his clients.
You see, he didn’t have to starve himself on some fad diet or exercise for
hours like they do on The Biggest Loser. It really came down to a few disciplines
compounded over time that made the difference for Tray.