Book Review: The Slight Edge
26 November 2025
The KOPI Book CLUB!
As an Osteopath, I specialise in the bio-mechanics of the beautiful human body. I am the eternal student of the body, an absolute privilege.
My book reviews are written to help you better understand and nurture your physical body. I hope you enjoy reading them, and if you have any books to suggest, I would be very interested to hear about them.
Book Review: The Slight Edge - Turning Simple Disciplines Into Massive Success & Happiness by Jeff Olson.
"Success is not doing extraordinary things. It’s doing ordinary things consistently."
- Jeff Olson.
Of all the books I’ve read and reviewed to date, The Slight Edge has been the hardest to write about — because it’s genuinely life-changing, if you’re willing to let it be.
Part of me wants to say, “Just read it, and then we’ll talk.” But that would be doing this book a huge disservice.
One of my personal life goals is to leave my children a “legacy library”—a collection of books that shape how we think and live. The Slight Edge absolutely earns its place in that collection.
At its core, The Slight Edge is a way of thinking. It shares striking similarities with Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), the training I completed earlier this month.
Both philosophies focus on making the small, positive choices that lead to the success and happiness you want — and making them easier to do.
As Jeff Olson explains, these choices are usually “easy to do, and easy not to do.” The Slight Edge lies in what spurs you actually to do them.
The small, consistent actions that, compounded over time, lead to lasting, noticeable transformation. It’s the power of time that turns tiny habits into massive achievements.
The beauty of The Slight Edge is that its lessons apply to every area of life. Through real-life examples spanning different ages, backgrounds and circumstances, Olson shows how the same principles can completely reshape careers, health, relationships and happiness.
This isn’t just a motivational read; it’s a mindset shift. It opens your eyes to what’s possible when you challenge your own thinking, behaviours and assumptions about what’s “normal.”
Olson reminds us that happiness isn’t the result of success — it’s the cause of it.
Happiness creates the right attitude, which drives the right actions, which ultimately produce success.
As we know from NLP, happiness is a state, something we can consciously create every day. And often, it comes from simple, free actions:
- Writing three things you’re grateful for each morning (easy to do, easy not to do)
- Moving your body daily (easy to do, easy not to do)
- Reading something uplifting or educational every day (easy to do, easy not to do)
Grounded in research from positive psychology, Olson’s message is practical, no-nonsense, and deeply encouraging.
Investing in yourself through continuous learning is essential to happiness, success and growth.
It doesn’t mean going back to school; it’s as simple as reading ten pages of a book that challenges your thinking or stretches your comfort zone.
In NLP, we often say: put fear in the back seat, and you in the driving seat. You never truly fail — you either win or you learn.
As Thomas Edison famously said after inventing the lightbulb:
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
The Slight Edge isn’t just another self-help book. It’s a love-punch. A call to shift your mindset, adjust your daily actions, and turn your biggest dreams into your lived reality.
Go and chase those dreams,
Much love, Emily.