The Slight Edge

I've been thinking a lot lately about a book that I read last year called The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. It was a book that changed my life.
The principle of The Slight Edge is that it is not the big "make or break" decisions that will determine your success in life, but the mundane, simple, seemingly insignificant decisions every day which, compounded over time, are the ultimate determination of success.
While I don't like absolutes, this makes perfect sense to me. Why do some people just seem to "have it" while others don't? well, that's actually a fallacy. Som people are willing to make the short term, painful, not-fun decisions every day, and some people are not. That is the difference: choice.
What Olson argues is that after years of making good, mundane decisions, the slight edge becomes so powerfully in a person's favor due to exponential growth, that the big decisions ultimately become less important. If built up over time, the slight edge can, in itself, get you through the tough times.
This principle can be seen in being frugal and "saving for a rainy day." It can be seen in good parenting, where parents make the tough decision to discipline their children consistently every day, there-by avoiding the more turbulent teen-age years. And it can be seen in becoming a "master" at any art: you work so hard every day for so long, and eventually become so skilled that you learn faster, retain more, and execute your craft more precisely.
I recently had an experience where I got the slight edge in my favor. I just took college algebra during summer term with a lofty goal of making an 'A'. This challenge will vary in difficulty depending on the person, but to me, it was almost insurmountable. My background in math is poor. I made a 19 in math on the ACT. In college, I substituted math for liberal arts for college algebra and struggled to make a 'B'-- and this was after I fought hard to make a 'B' in remedial algebra. My skills were thought too poor to go straight into a college level math course. It has now been seven years since I held a graphing calculator. I couldn't recall the laws of fractions or exponents. I couldn't factor an equation. This is where I started five weeks ago with the goal of making an 'A' in college algebra. The first test did not go well-- I almost passed. Likewise, I flunked the first two quizzes. But I studied every day. I tried to put in four hours a day- although with two kids, that was not always possible. I raised each of my test scores by more than ten points each (almost 20 points between the first two tests) and I started passing quizzes, then making 90s and 100s on them. I caught up to the class at the end of week three and was able to start working ahead and reviewing during week four. I made a high 'A' on test four and the final, and secured my 'A' in the class. I was lucky-- the professor replaces your lowest test score with your final grade. As the term progressed, I understood the material faster and retained more of it. In other words, I got the slight edge working in my favor because I made the decision to put in the study time every day. I didn't stress about the final- in fact it was my easiest test. And I came away with an actual understanding of numbers, how they work, and how they can be used in life that I didn't have before. I was faced with a difficult challenge, and I came away with a meaningful experience.
I'll always be thankful that the Slight Edge was brought to my attention. Mr. Olson was able to succesfully explain one of life's simplest principles to me in a way that no one had ever been able to before, and my life will be better because of it.