Book Review: Crunch Time

About a month ago I went to Barnes & Noble to pick up a copy of Seth Godin’s book, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us and, having some extra time, I was browsing the discount areas and I came upon Crunch Time: 8 Steps to Making the Right Life Decisions at the Right Times by Ken Lindner.  Since I’m in a time where I have some decisions to make and I’m also focusing on reading books about leadership I thought this might be an interesting read, especially at 50% off.

The book is broken down into 3 sections:

1. Exploring Your Decision-making Foundation

   The author uses this section to talk about the first 2 steps. Identifying when you need to make a decision and "clearly and concisely stating what the issue is". For instance, you are in the store and you pass an end aisle display with Double-stuff Oreos and there is a big sign that says, "Special Offer". Do you buy the cookies? Now there are many things that go into making the decision, but that is the core issue.

2. The Crunch Time Strategies

   Here the author uses most of the book to explain Step 3, Identify, Explore, and then Apply the Appropriate Crunch Time Strategies.  This has 24 sub-steps that I won’t list here.  To sum it up, be constructive, be disciplined, be objective, and evaluate decisions based on your long-term goals.

3. Completing the Process

   This breaks down the final 5 steps in about 30 pages. To sum it up, make sure your decisions are based on accurate information, what you value, and what you really want.

I honestly had a hard time getting into the book because it has a "touchy-feely" tone. The author talks a lot about making "self-enhancing" decisions and decisions that take you where you want to go in your "heart of hearts". That's not to say that the author doesn't give you some good ideas and a framework to build on, it's just that he worded it in a way that is more self-help than professional development. 

What did I learn from this book?  First, have goals, have a decision-making process (he provides his in this book), and evaluate every decision using the process and make decisions that lead to the fulfillment of your goals.

Would I recommend that you buy this book?  Not if you had to pay full –price, but for $5.00 it wasn’t a bad read once you get past the writing style.  I did learn some things and it dove tails pretty well with Tribes and the book I’m currently reading, Visioneering by Andy Stanley