In an airport, Olson encountered a kindly, bright shoeshine who loved to read popular romance books and had dreams of being able to afford her daughter’s summer cheerleading camp in Texas. He believes she had everything necessary to be successful in this endeavor, and that if she read works geared toward self-improvement and skill-building between shines instead of romance novel, she’d be far more successful, possibly even running her own shoeshine stand.

Most people don’t fall into the 5% of truly successful people, and Olson argues that the failure of the majority to achieve success has nothing to do with talent, luck, or drive. It’s the slight edge that creates the difference: letting a positive philosophy drive daily, repeated actions. He illustrates this with an example of a high schooler, Steve, who wanted to be a performer but lacked natural talent. Steve practiced every day for hours without seeing immediate improvements. This “Steve” is actually Steve Martin, a famous comedian and actor. Olson guarantees that anyone who uses the slight edge will be successful, not by some extraordinary stroke of fate but rather through mastering the mundane practices that accumulate toward success.