I don’t very often write extended book reviews for my blog, but I am making an exception for Choice Points: When You have to Decide Which Way to Go, by Phil Hollander, Robert Reaume, and Harvey Silver. (See Amazon.com for more.) It is an excellent book in more ways than one. I will say more about those ways, but first, a bit of background:
In the interests of full disclosure, I need to say that I know one of the authors, Phil Hollander. We first met in 1994 at an NLP training with Richard Bandler in Toronto. We have maintained contact over the years, including attending additional NLP trainings, and otherwise being in the same city at the same time. During the intervening years, I have had good opportunity to observe Phil’s intellectual curiosity, grasp of Neurolinguistic Programming, and personal integrity. For these reasons, I was glad to receive an autographed copy when the book was “hot off the press.” I have not met, nor do I know, Phil’s co-authors. I will refer to them collectively as simply “the authors.”
First, Choice Points is deceptively simple. It is brief—less than 200 pages including prefatory parts and author bios. The chapters (47 of them) are short, thought-provoking, and focused on essential principles, starting with Awareness and concluding with gratitude expressed by “Please. And, Thank You”. When you begin to think about the number of times a day you face choice points—from the seemingly inconsequential to the monumental—you are already increasing your awareness. The image on the cover is a visual metaphor: It shows a fork in a road, both literal and metaphorical, with one of the directions leading to failure and the other leading to success. If you grew up in the U.S., even if you are not a baseball fan, you are undoubtedly aware of the famous words of wisdom from Yogi Berra, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
The truth is that you have no choice but to take it. Even if you just stand there thinking about the pros and cons of deciding, you are simply at a different fork in the road. There’s no escaping the forks in the road, and that awareness is the first step to making better decisions. The authors have done an excellent job of identifying the major forks and the psychological factors that influence your ability to make good choices about which direction to take. It may not always be obvious, but happiness is a choice (Chapter 9). Life’s events may not be fully under your control, but your reactions (emotional) and your responses (rational) can be. If it “rains on your parade,” you can choose to change the date, location, route, or other factors—perhaps even turning the parade into an indoor party. The main thing to note is that you are choosing, whether you know it or not.
This is a book I would have been glad to have when I was in my teens. It is also a book I am glad to have now. While I have encountered many of the ideas presented here in many of the books I have read over (is it possible?) the last 50 years. It is perhaps for this reason that I am so willing to support and promote Choice Points at this time. Even if I had read Choice Points first, I still would have read the other books. Learning is one of my favorite things, and the way I learn best is by reading. I undoubtedly would have been able to avoid many of the bad decisions I made along the way had I known more about the possible choices at the forks in the road. At just $13.95 (U.S.), it’s a great investment that will more than pay for itself in a very short time.
So … I not only know Phil Hollander, but I’m also glad and proud to recommend Choice Points.
