Another year, another self-help audiobook – and this time, we’re starting off strong.

Anthony Raymond’s book on the subject aids its readers to learn how to set goals and do them with gusto by practising the following four concepts developed in the East:

• Death by a thousand cuts – understanding that a problem doesn’t arise from a single point, instead it’s an accumulation of little bits and pieces
• Honest self reflection – understanding what went wrong
• Ikigai – finding your true calling, reason to get out of bed in the morning
• Kaizen – continuous improvement, concentrated effort over time to achieve a goal

As is usually the case with these type of books, it advices to live in the moment and teaches you how to stop inactivity as the default system – to learn how to take action without an external factor forcing you to.

I particularly enjoyed discussion about the flow state and balance over challenge, and reward. If the challenge ahead of you matches your skillset and the reward is satisfactory, you will be naturally excited to do it, without need for any external factors to drive it. If the balance isn’t there, if for example, the challenge is difficult and the reward is small, you might end up experiencing anxiety or frustration. On the other hand, if the reward is there but you’re not being challenged, you might get bored.

The book explains the concepts with practical approaches and examples. It also includes a pdf and exercises to help readers find their own Ikigai.

It’s a very easy to swallow read, the audiobook itself is enjoyable to listen to and the book’s concepts are explained better than in majority of others books. Would highly recommend if you’re looking for something quick to have a look at to help put things into action.