The Slight Edge - Jeff Olson

[vertek]

[amazonsearch]The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness[/amazonsearch]

 

One of my favorite books of the dozen or so that I read in 2014.  I plan on re-reading it multiple times in the future.  It played into a lot of Buffett's concepts such as horsepower / output of personal productivity as well as habit formation.  It also nicely coincided with one of Guy Spier's concepts of the Thank You letters. 

 

Anyhow, the basic premise is that there are no huge singular moments of change in life.  It's all a product of small habits done repeatedly over time.  "No success immediate, no collapse sudden".  The catch is that:

1) These actions are easy to do, and easy not to do.  Skip a day at the gym, who cares?

2) No visible difference for a while.  Saving 10% and overspending 10% of your income look pretty similar in years 1-5.

 

We're all familiar with compounding as it applies to finances, but this book deals with the compounding impacts of habits and behaviors.  Enjoy!

 

- vertek

[berkshire101]

Thanks for the recommendation.  I'm adding it to my watch list! 

 

I like the idea of moats around a business.  I think we should also be adding a moat around yourselves too.  It's only natural as the world is becoming more and more competitive.

[crastogi]

[amazonsearch]The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness[/amazonsearch]

 

One of my favorite books of the dozen or so that I read in 2014.  I plan on re-reading it multiple times in the future.  It played into a lot of Buffett's concepts such as horsepower / output of personal productivity as well as habit formation.  It also nicely coincided with one of Guy Spier's concepts of the Thank You letters. 

 

Anyhow, the basic premise is that there are no huge singular moments of change in life.  It's all a product of small habits done repeatedly over time.  "No success immediate, no collapse sudden".  The catch is that:

1) These actions are easy to do, and easy not to do.  Skip a day at the gym, who cares?

2) No visible difference for a while.  Saving 10% and overspending 10% of your income look pretty similar in years 1-5.

 

We're all familiar with compounding as it applies to finances, but this book deals with the compounding impacts of habits and behaviors.  Enjoy!

 

- vertek

 

It is indeed a great book!

[DCG]

Read it earlier this year an liked it. Felt like it was pretty repetitive though - sort of stretched a concept that could have been communicated in a long blog post into a book. Good though, and probably something I'll re-read at some point.

 

 

The Compound Effect is supposed to be real similar to this book, but I haven't read that yet.

[vertek]

Agreed with the repetitive aspect, but I think that can be fine if the point is important enough.  Along those lines, my "hurdle" for marginal benefit of additional reading becomes higher each year.  I'm thinking it's probably more useful to re-read several select books (Margin of Safety, You Can Be A Stock Market Genius, Buffett Letters) and better absorb those ideas and actions, than to try and read new "flavor of the month" ideas.  The delta between knowing a thing and applying it is just so large.

 

- vertek

[Liberty]

Thank you for the recommendation, I added it to the list. Cheers!  :)

[Charlie]

Very good book! Thank you for recommending.  :)

 

Sometimes a little bit simple and repetitive.

I like the chart at page 151 and the help from him of focusing on your goals/dreams.

[plusalpha]

In related topic of Habit, how is this book "The Power of Habit."

 

Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Habit-What-Business/dp/081298160X

 

looks good review on amazon.

[DCG]

I thought the power if habit was pretty good. A bit longer than it needs to be, and it's a pretty slow read, and a little boring at times, but has a lot of good info.

 

I just thought it was one if those books that seem like a blog post stretched out into a book. A lot of people loved it though, so don't let me deter you from reading it. Maybe I'll revisit it sometime.

[vertek]

Glad you enjoyed it!  I've read both "The Power of Habit" and "The Compound Effect" and found this one to be the most enjoyable, and actionable.  I agree the book can be simple and repetitive, but I don't find that to be mutually exclusive with impactful.  Also dovetails nicely with one of my favorite Munger quotes.

 

"Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Discharge your duties faithfully and well. Step by step you get ahead, but not necessarily in fast spurts. But you build discipline by preparing for fast spurts... Slug it out one inch at a time, day by day, at the end of the day -- if you live long enough -- most people get what they deserve."

 

- vertek

[oddballstocks]

Almost done reading it based on the recommendation from this thread. From the Amazon reviews I discovered that the first edition was shorter and less repetitive, so picked it up for a few bucks.