The Slight Edge

At work, we read a book as the sales team each quarter. This quarter we are reading “The Slight Edge: Secret to a Successful Life by Jeff Olson”. Now I haven’t finished the book, but the main idea is a framework, and not a bunch of tactics. Basically, Olson proposes that each day we have lots and lots of choices. Most of these choices have very little impact on our day to day life. Things like should I eat healthy, or this greasy fast food. If we choose the fast food, it (most likely) won’t kill us today and in reality, might even make us happier today than healthy food. If we choose a salad, we won’t lose weight, or get in shape today, and we might not enjoy our meal as much. In the long run however something happens. These small choices add up, and in a lot of cases they grow exponentially. If we choose bad food, eventually, it will kill us or in the least make life significantly more miserable for us. If we eat healthy though, we will find we have more energy and are more healthy, thus getting more done.

So often we are faced with little choices that don’t seem to matter. I wonder what would happen if each time we had a choice we pictured in our minds where that choice put us in 30 years. Would we make different decisions? Any suggestions on how to visualize that future? I know a McDonalds cheeseburger is not really great for me, but it is hard to make those daily choices to not eat them. Successful people seem to make those good choices all (or most of) the time.