The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines Into Massive Success And Happiness

As children we grow up with our own dream of success; such as being a doctor, living in a mansion, or having millions of dollars to our name. A great factor of success depends on an individual’s effort and motivation to pursue their dreams and follow through with their future plans. An individual may succeed or fail in life based on small habits. The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness, by Jeff Olson, recognizes the fundamentals of being a successful person and how to achieve success. The “slight edge” is defined as the small advantage a small percent have over others. Olson describes an act of using a “small daily discipline” to form your everyday habits into a way of success. A “small daily discipline”
Olson explains why most people are stuck on the roller coaster between survival and failure. A diagram in The Slight Edge showed us fluctuating through life, never reaching success. This is what Olson calls the roller coaster of life. A step toward success starts with replacing bad habits with positive ones. For instance, instead of eating a chocolate bar every day after basketball practice, we should eat an apple! Little things like that can make a slow, but critical difference. Success is not something that comes instantly and as humans we expect to see quick results. A study concluded, “1 person in 20 is achieving a significant measure of his or her goals in life: financial, professional, personal, in terms of relationships, in terms of health, in whatever terms you want to look at” (Olson 50). These numbers are based on a human’s reactions to the roller coaster of life. Most people don’t pursue their habits long enough to reach success because they see small results and quit the habit that has gotten them this far. Fogg shares similar ideas on behalf of time. He shares a quote, “plant a tiny seed in the right spot and it will grow without coaxing,” relating this to habits could reveal the aspect of success requiring time (Fogg). Fogg is showing how a tiny habit will become as easy as an existing one with some time. Another thing Olson provides is that the habits are, “easy to do and even easier not to do” (Olson 59). This can be
Today, most people think happiness comes from financial success, but we are reminded that you cannot have success in the first place without happiness in your life. To explain, Olson pronounces, “Happiness doesn’t come at the end. Happiness comes first. Albert Schweitzer puts beautifully: ‘Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success’” (Olson 99). The majority of people do not realize this and are continuously searching for success to achieve happiness, where in reality they should be looking for happiness to be on the road to success. Olson explains that you have to start somewhere, and the hardest part may be starting. It may seem stupid to do something so small every day without any result, but that is what adds up over time. Building off Olson’s proposal, Fogg shares his ways of creating happiness from a daily habit. Fogg brings in his ideas of celebrating “small daily disciplines” to cause pleasure. He communicates his idea of happiness by example, such as- telling yourself, “I am awesome” or doing a happy dance to praise yourself (Fogg). We need to celebrate after doing something positive, like a “small daily discipline.” Our brain connects praise to happiness, making the small habit something you want to do more often. In my “small daily discipline” I wasn’t feeling successful putting money in a jar every day. I didn’t quite understand how it would help me and it