Do the thing, and you shall have the power.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
The secret ingredient is your philosophy. By “your philosophy,” all I mean is changing the way you think about simple everyday things. Once you do, then you will take the steps you need to take, to lead you to the how-to’s you need.
If you don’t change how you think about these simple everyday things, then no amount of how-to’s will get you anywhere or give you any true solutions. Because it’s not the hows that do it, it’s how you do the hows. The reason diets and self-help courses and weight-loss programs and other how-to’s don’t work for most people is
the same reason most how-to books and courses don’t work for most people. It isn’t that the actions are wrong. It’s that people don’t keep doing them.
Focusing on the actions, the what-to-dos and the how-to-do-its, is not enough, because it’s the attitude behind the actions that keep those actions in place
Your philosophy is what you know, how you hold it, and how it affects what you do. How you think about simple, everyday things.
A positive philosophy turns into a positive attitude, which turns into positive actions, which turns into positive results, which turns into a positive lifestyle. A positive life.
Your philosophy is what you know, how you hold what you know, and how it affects what you do.
You can look at anyone’s actions and trace back, through the attitudes behind those actions, to their source: the philosophy behind the attitudes. Show me what a man does, and I’ll show you his philosophy.
Here’s another example of a life philosophy, this one from Thomas J. Watson, the founder of IBM: The formula for success is quite simple: Double your rate of failure.
If you go through life with the philosophy that “failure is not an option,” then you’ll never have any good opportunities to learn.
Successful people fail their way to the top.
Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. There is a natural progression to everything in life: plant, cultivate, harvest.
Essential Points from Chapter Two
* No matter how good the information is, it won’t do you any good unless you have the right catalyst that will let you apply it effectively.
* Your philosophy creates your attitudes, which create your actions, which create your results, which create your life.
* Successful people fail their way to the top. Do the thing, and you shall have the power.
* The slight edge is the first ingredient, the catalyst you need that makes all the how-to’s work.
Slight Edge | Chapter 1
Slight Edge | Chapter 3
