Dorai presents a helpful guide to productivity intended to guide readers to making informed choices in life.

Life is full of big and small decisions, so one must make them with due consideration of their importance. In this self-help book, Dorai, a professor emeritus of economics at New Jersey–based William Paterson University, offers advice on how to make wise choices, drawing on his decades of academic expertise.He includes many graphs and charts along the way, which readers will find quite helpful for processing the concepts and theories he discusses; there’s a clear graph of the average trajectory of income over the course of one’s life, for example, and an image of a table with legs labeled with the four decision-making virtues (“Self-respect, Self-confidence, Self-control, and Self-reliance”). That said, the images’ designs are quite rudimentary, and this lack of visual appeal detracts from the reading experience at times. One of the book’s greatest strengths, though, is its interactive element, which makes it easy to follow. To keep readers engaged, Dorai offers a variety of example questions to ask themselves in personal or professional situations, such as “Who, besides myself, should have input and responsibility for this decision, and for its implementation?” or “Are there ‘short-cuts’ to some decisions? Can the process be simplified?” The book is well-organized throughout, with numerous chapters and subheadings that walk readers through various elements of the decision-making process, such as when to complete a task and when to delegate it. Although the work is arranged very much like an academic thesis, Dorai makes it accessible with a wide variety of relatable anecdotes to clarify whatever concept is at hand.

A straightforward and practical self-help guide, hampered slightly by bland graphics.