Book Sharing: Life Begins at 40: What to Do Based on the Experiences of 10,000 People

title: [Book Sharing] At 40, a Wonderful Life Begins: Seeing What You Should Really Do from the Experiences of 10,000 People
published: false
date: 2021-06-19 00:00:00 UTC
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canonical_url: http://www.evanlin.com/reading-after-40/
---

[![](https://cdn.readmoo.com/cover/62/f2efg6a_210x315.jpg?v=0)](http://moo.im/a/kwEGWX "At 40, a Wonderful Life Begins")

At 40, a Wonderful Life Begins: Seeing What You Should Really Do from the Experiences of 10,000 People
できる40代は、「これ」しかやらない : 一万人の体験談から見えてきた「正しい頑張り方」

Author: Hisashi Otsuka Translator: Junjie Shen Publisher: Sense & Wisdom Publishing Date: 2021/05/01 Language: Traditional Chinese ISBN: 9789861343815

#### Recommended Purchase Links:

- 

E-book: [Readmoo](http://moo.im/a/kwEGWX)

- 

Books.com.tw: [Purchase Link](https://www.books.com.tw/exep/assp.php/kkdailin/products/0010889442?utm_source=kkdailin&utm_medium=ap-books&utm_content=recommend&utm_campaign=ap-202106)

## Preface:

This is the seventh book I've read this year. When I decided to browse this book in the bookstore, it was really just because of its title (it seems like buying a book will reveal my age), but in fact, the content of this book is quite practical. I believe many office workers would want to know the things they should have known in their thirties. When I first opened this book, it talked about the chapters related to work-life balance, and I didn't expect there to be many very useful suggestions and insights. As a salesperson, the author understands the confusion and perplexity that people often have in their forties and fifties.

I highly recommend everyone to read this book, even if you're not yet 40, haha!

## Content Summary and Thoughts:

Are you okay? "40 years old" regret survey
□ I am busy every day, but I don't dislike being busy at work.
□ Work is still practical, the key is to do it yourself.
□ Although I know things should be delegated, in the end, I can't help but take them on myself.
□ I often work overtime on weekdays, but I spend my weekends with my family.
□ Although I don't mind getting promoted and rich, I try not to think about these things.
□ Young people these days don't like others interfering too much, so I try to keep my distance from them.
□ I haven't changed companies since graduating from university.
□ I have absolutely no time for hobbies now, I think I'll cultivate them after retirement.
If you check more than 5 items, you may be a "the more you work hard, the easier it is to regret" person!
Please change your mind immediately!

### Chapter Breakdown

#### chapter 1 [Career Chapter] Forty is the last chance to decide "how to live the second half of your life"

Forty often comes with seniority and experience, and you've often worked at a company for more than a decade. At this time, the author provides a table that allows readers to consider whether the company has related crises, the "Self-Assessment Analysis Table." It roughly includes the following items:

- Advantages of the industry the company is in
- Company self-assessment: the company's ranking in the industry.
- Department ranking in the company's proportion.
- Supervisor's assessment.
- Assessment of your current skills.

These assessments can help readers have a general understanding of their current situation. If the current situation is not optimistic, you should also make relevant changes as soon as possible in your forties, everything is still in time.

It also mentions that it is recommended that everyone evaluate their current situation through "money" as a relatively objective situation analysis. At the same time, it also hopes that through the current situation analysis, readers can better understand which skills should be started to cultivate, and the author also suggests that they should cultivate a personal brand and a side business that can make money (here, making money probably means having a monthly income of 7,000 yen).

#### chapter 2 [Company Chapter] In the "turbulent organization," you need to cultivate superb swimming skills

The second chapter mentions that after 40, you should also have certain ideas about work. Here are some words that are worth thinking about:

- Think about whether to get promoted early, and be responsible for your work life through time allocation.
- Cultivate organizational skills, and abandon personal skills. This refers to enriching your personal network and working hard with people.
- Instead of pleasing your superiors, it's better to get along well with your subordinates.

The idea of getting along well with subordinates is quite interesting. Because most people in their 40s are small supervisors, by getting along well with subordinates, the organization's performance can be good, and they can be truly appreciated by their superiors. On the contrary, if you only please your superiors, but constantly exploit your subordinates, your subordinates will slack off, and your achievements will still not be seen.

#### chapter 3 [Management Chapter] Master the "correct way of delegating," and you and your team can get moving

This shares the abilities that a management level should have at 40:

- Master the "general principles of delegation": Learn how to delegate tasks effectively.
- Don't complain frequently, but don't solve the problem.
- Know how to ask subordinates who are older than you
- Deliberately arrange "management time": Many books also mention that **you must arrange 1 on 1 time**.
- The sandwich biscuit talent is the presentation of self-worth: Avoid Garbage in Garbage Out

The most important thing here is to recognize your value in management, and you must also make yourself believe in the team more. Trusting your subordinates more is the key.

#### chapter 4 [Personal Chapter] Temporarily put aside work and fully immerse yourself in "personal life"

The author of this book is Japanese, and in Japan, 40 is the standard age of "burning life for the company." But the author asks every reader to think ahead about how to "increase personal life."

- There is no company that can't do without you, only a life without a life goal if you are without the company.
- You need to cultivate "a life of your ideal life" as soon as possible, otherwise you will often lose your life goals after retirement.
- You need to pay more attention to family life earlier, because forty is often a decade when it is easy to lose contact with family and children. It is also easy to cause midlife divorce.
- Try to divide your weekend time into six equal parts, in addition to having your own time. You must reserve time for family and friends.
- You must allocate your time appropriately to your children, and it is very important to have a meal. (Now I WFH every day and I eat with my children ~laugh)
- People who only have work in their eyes are really pitiful. And besides work, do you have any related interests?
- The last item is to exercise, you must "actually fight against aging" through the body.

Finally, the author also shared a case, through his own requirements for life. His love for audio equipment later became his side business after retirement, and his life was also very happy.

#### chapter 5 [Time Management Chapter] People who work efficiently will "do this"

People in their forties have mostly been working at their own work pace for more than a decade (maybe even longer). At this time, many people have not properly examined their work efficiency, and here are some methods for readers to properly check themselves.

- Don't try to control everything, just do the important things. (Things that no one can replace
- Take ten minutes out of your time and do some work that you don't usually do. Maybe you can find some ways to increase work efficiency.
- Pursue the time to work with concentration (tomato clock?) (Continuous working time)
- Keep to the schedule, if you can't finish it, try to put it halfway (don't do a paragraph). Many books teach this way, so that it often makes you think about it, and then you will come up with a better way.
- "Important but not urgent things" often need to be thought about more seriously and done more seriously. Avoid becoming "important and urgent."

Try to do things that you didn't care about in the past, and it will often give you more insights.

#### chapter 6 [Networking Chapter] After forty, "who you associate with" will determine the success or failure of your life

For ordinary people, the peak of networking is during their student days. In their 20s and 30s, because of changing schools and jobs, they will meet many people. But after forty, they often become more and more lazy to contact people, and the networking at this time is often more precious.

- Through gatherings, get to know more different people. (If you don't like drinking, you can have a book club.
- Another book also mentioned that a gathering of about a dozen people, letting each other know their network. Often can allow each other to achieve the highest benefits, often business comes this way.
- Ask anyone humbly, and also get to know people who are not in your own circle.

There are two things that will not appear in the world, one is a ghost, and the other is next time.

You never know whether next time will come first, or death will come first. After forty, you often start to have regrets caused by friends leaving, don't let yourself have similar regrets.

Through periodic gatherings, you can invite people related to the business, and you can also find the previous contacts together. The number is about ten as the upper limit, so that everyone can get to know each other, and also expand each other's network. Many books and courses have mentioned related things, and they all believe that the network formed in this way is useful and effective.

- **Personal favorite shops and secret spots are very important**: This is something I don't think about much now, although it's because the author is in sales. But I think even those with an engineering background should be able to have their own secret shops.

#### chapter 7 [Learning Chapter] In a limited time, the "adult learning method" to obtain the greatest results

This is a very new book (published at the end of 2020), so this chapter discusses the "new abilities needed under the epidemic situation."

- **Remote office communication skills**: Effective communication and delegation skills, effectively mastering remote meetings.
- Writing skills are very important, and people who often write also have "strong independent thinking skills."
- Concentrated learning can monetize abilities, learn more related abilities that can make money. If you want a certificate, it should be in the learning ability brought by the certificate rather than the certificate itself.
- Reading new books and several classic books can make knowledge learning more efficient.
- Cultivate "a demonstrable literacy," through knowledge of astronomy and geography, can make communication more interesting. It can also make your network better, and make your value higher.

## Thoughts:

Although this book was written by a Japanese author, it is actually very suitable for people over thirty-five to read in Taiwan. I also hope that every reader who reads this article can read this book, cultivate their own abilities, and also cultivate many networks that belong to them.