Deciding What Not to Do

The author of this book has gained international recognition as a seminar speaker, giving thousands of presentations in many countries including Japan, the USA, Taiwan, Singapore and South Africa. His new book answers the age-old question, “What are the differences between those who succeed and those who don’t succeed?”
 
I have goals and dreams, but I can’t reach them. I make the effort to go to study groups and seminars, but nothing changes. I’m not getting any closer to where I want to be. Many people have these worries. With these people in mind, author Akira Iguchi travels the world each year teaching hundreds of people a simple way to change their lives.
 
Changing your life, put simply, is about “deciding what not to do.”
 
Before being able to act on what you want to accomplish, it’s important to think about what you shouldn’t be doing.  Without exception, people who unconsciously spend all of their energy thinking about what they should do steer further and further from success. If we could keep ourselves from wasting energy on needless things, we’d be able to focus more on what we want and allow success to naturally come our way.

Successful people are always “monotasking” rather than “multitasking,” and MIT Professor Earl Miller’s research has proven monotasking to be more productive. This book discusses how we are prone to waste time, money, relationships and information, and points out exactly what we shouldn’t be wasting our energy on.
 
Be one of the hundreds of changed lives by giving this book a chance. The effectiveness of not doing things will surprise you.
 
I decided not to watch the TV shows I recorded for later, and not to eat dinner after 9 PM. I always felt lazy in the mornings and it took me a while to gather the energy to work, but now it’s much easier to get going. (Man)

I stopped making excuses, watching TV, having short and meaningless hangouts with friends, and associating with negative people. After that, I started to appreciate my parents and others who’ve supported me more. I started to get even more support from those around me, and I even received a job as a lecturer! I am finally able to do what I say I’m going to do. (Woman)

Chapter 1: Life is about choosing what you won’t do

– Why you can’t succeed even after writing down your goals

– Don’t become a punctured plastic bottle!

– How my TOEIC score went from 300 to 900 in just half a year

– Stop multitasking immediately

Chapter 2: Things to stop doing to quit wasting time

– Don’t be controlled by another person’s schedule

– Don’t change lunch and dinner locations depending on the day

– Don’t stay out for extra drinks

– Don’t start the day with easy or clerical tasks

Chapter 3: Things to stop doing to not worry about personal relationships

– Don’t talk to your coworkers about your work troubles

– Reserve enough energy for your marriage

– Don’t accept friend requests on Facebook

– Don’t worry about a low “strength of communication”

Chapter 4: Things to stop doing to not be controlled by money

– Don’t fall prisoner to the biggest wasteful expenditure of saving money

– Don’t look for bargains at the supermarket

– Don’t wait in line at the theme park

– Don’t rely on chance meetings to broaden your connections

Chapter 5: Things to stop doing to not be restrained by information

– Don’t read the newspaper like a typical businessperson

– Don’t listen to the morning news weather report or horoscope

– Don’t do exercises like walking or jogging

With Akira Iguchi already being a bestselling author, and this book being a culmination of his career’s work, our goal was to have at least 100,000 people read it. This really fired up our passion for creating the book. In order to make it the most important one of his career, Iguchi put all he had into writing it. After meeting with each other over and over again, we finally finished! Comments such as, “This is good enough to be my posthumous masterpiece” were most pleasing to hear. It always makes me very happy to receive positive feedback from the readers of books I work on, and positive comments from the author are just as exciting. There is evidence in the book of the author’s efforts, which makes me confident that it will change the lives of readers.