I’ve been listening to the Slight Edge CD’s, by Jeff Olson. There are 3 of them and I am on my 3rd time through. I just can’t put the Slight Edge down right now.

One of the biggest “breakthroughs” for me was a simple re-defining of what a “plan” really is.  When I set a new goal, lets say having $78,000 in the bank by October 20, 2010, the next step is to write out a plan.

In the past, I would look at this task of creating a plan and my mind would rebel because the task was not only too big, but I didn’t understand exactly HOW I was going to get there.

The Slight Edge is all about having massive success, not by winning the lottery or having a huge break-through, but in the day by day little steps you take – that are easy to do. And the big downside – they are also easy NOT to do.

Henry David Thoreau made a startling revelation:  “The masses of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”  Statistics show over and over again that only 1 in 20 people will reach retirement with enough money to live comfortably. The masses who are leading lives of quiet desperation are the 95% crowd who everyday are blaming the economy, the weather, their boss, their spouse or their circumstances.

James Allen says of these people “They curse the effect, while they nourish the cause.” So if you don’t want to just flow with the crowd and live day by day in mediocrity, there is a way out. But it isn’t easy to do. It takes discipline.  And it is oh so easy not to do, too.

So how does constructing a plan fit with your desire to be part of the 1% of people who have a high 6 or 7 figure annual income? We’ll get to that in a minute, but first of all I need to mention a phenomenal and simple strategy designed to give you continual improvement in anything you do. Here it is:

PLAN – DO – REVIEW.  PLAN – DO – REVIEW.  Start with a plan. Follow up with doing -action. When you get to the “small step” goal of your first plan, review.  Review your action and your plan. Were you on track? Are you moving towards your goal? Do you need to make any course correction? Write it all down. Now, on to the next step -  what is your new plan – do – review?

This simple strategy is how Japan “ate our lunch” in the auto industry in the 1980′s and 1990′s.  Honda and Toyota operated their whole company along this simple continual improvement strategy of plan, do and review.

So in order to construct a plan that will move you toward your BIG goal, use this simple plan, do, review strategy over and over again.  Plan out a small step, something you know will move you in the right direction. Then take immediate ACTION. Finally, review your plan and action, and implement any course correction that is needed.

What will happen is this. As you take a few of these small steps, you will start figuring out, step by step,  exactly what you need to do to keep getting closer to your finish line.  Instead of waiting around and looking for the big breakthrough that rarely ever happens, this “slight edge” strategy will insure you success every time.

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