A few months ago I decided to pick my dad’s brain about how he began his vegan restaurant Avocado Vegan Cafe and Juice Bar. It had been on my mind because it really intrigued me. This is not my dad’s first business just his most recent. He started a few years ago and it had been long-awaited by many people because of his amazing cooking. I had so many questions because I had so many ideas that I wanted to start up and my dad seemed to just talk about opening up his restaurant one day, then a week later he set up shop.
I called him then set up the voice recorder on my computer and got out my notebook as we began our conversation. It was a good nearly 2-hour conversation as he told me how he started and set up things for his new business venture. As he continued he explained what learning materials he used, then he said something I kind of knew already but I didn’t always follow through with. It was something to the tune of, whenever you want to achieve something set aside time each day and complete at least one thing towards your goal. He was right and his wording was different for me. I’ve always heard people talking about eating an elephant one bite at a time, but he put it in a more realistic and actionable term.
It was nice to hear the information my dad gave me about starting a business and I’m glad I was able to discuss that with him. But another way that I obtain information about business and growth is through reading. I tend to read books in the order that I am inspired by them or they are consistently presented to me. Well, in the month of August I kept seeing the book The Slight Edge, and I have heard about it for years now. In September I went to see my family for a reunion and this happened to be the same book my stepmom was reading at the time. I took it as a sign as well I was almost done with another book I was reading. So I became dead set to read this book next since I keep seeing it must be serious.
The Slight Edge takes you through various anecdotes where the idea was applied and how others fared following through. I love this factor because it gave me something solid to compare the whole concept too. The author gives us a plethora of its examples and metaphors that also allow you to visualize the process in a different way. These elements made the book an enjoyable read.
The whole idea behind The Slight Edge is to push ourselves to do small things each day in order to accomplish big things in the long run. Another common phrase that comes to mind is taking baby steps to get far in any type of journey. We all say “ we don’t have time “for things because we believe it has to be all or nothing to get things done. I’ve done this for a lot of things until I realized that I was using that as an excuse to not make time. Once I broke out of the cycle of excuses I soon found many pockets of time to get bigger things done.
Author, Jeff Olson tells you to start putting drops in your bucket of success and realize you don’t need to fill it all at once. Those drips not only build up to eventually fill your bucket but they are also the start to your momentum on your way to success. You often find yourself closer to your goals when you use The Slight Edge, doing a little something is better than doing nothing.
The beauty of this concept is that there is nothing that you have to buy to apply this method. It is all about your actions, follow through, and consistency. This means anyone, of any age, in any social class, can take action and start The Slight Edge to obtain success. Not to mention it’s an easy process implement, without having some strange technique to follow or be coached on. I feel like this is among the easiest thing to follow in a self-development journey and it’s really the first thing you should do to start.
In this book, Jeff Olsen tells you that this idea can be applied to basically all areas of your life, not only business. You can apply this to your health journey as well, which he also talks about with weight loss. I have done this and I preach doing this when it came to me becoming a vegan. I get many people asking me about it because they don’t feel” strong” enough to make the transition. Truth be told I didn’t do it all at once it was actually a three-year process for me. Little by little I stopped eating certain things, then replacing them with alternatives.
As time passed it became easier to stop eating the things that I use to crave often. This is where I started the habit and gained the strength to stop eating animal products. Even though it was a super slow process in the beginning and the middle and the end, I was successful. Since realizing the various ways in which I have used and succeeded with the slight Edge, I have pushed myself to continue applying it in many areas of my life.
A few of my takeaways from this awesome book were: to stop making excuses that I can’t start something new unless I’m able to do it 100% perfectly from the start or I shouldn’t bother. No matter how small and seemingly insignificant my effort is, I’m still putting in the effort that will eventually get me to my goals. Additionally, no matter how painful or stressful it may seem to start, the small implementation will build up to become an easier flowing habit. We all benefit from engaging in the use of The Slight Edge. Start whatever it is you want without excuses then keep it up, because I promise you WILL get to the light at the end of the tunnel.
What will you apply The Slight Edge Concept too in your life?
This post was proofread by Grammarly
