1. The only person whose behavior we can control is our own.
2. All we can give another person is information.
3. All long-lasting psychological problems are relationship problems.
4. The problem relationship is always part of our present life.
5. What happened in the past has everything to do with what we are today, but we can only satisfy our basic needs right now and plan to continue satisfying them in the future.
6. We can only satisfy our needs by satisfying the pictures in our Quality World.
7. All we do is behave.
8. All behavior is Total Behavior and is made up of four components: acting, thinking, feeling and physiology.
9. All Total Behavior is chosen, but we only have direct control over the acting and thinking components. We can only control our feeling and physiology indirectly through how we choose to act and think.
10. All Total Behavior is designated by verbs and named by the part that is the most recognizable.

"Discussing Choice Theory is always an interesting challenge for me. Choice Theory is simultaneously easy to understand and amazingly complex and multifaceted. Learning Choice Theory has been compared to learning to sail: 'Even if you have never sailed before, I could take you out this afternoon and teach you how to sail in just a few hours. You would then spend the rest of your life learning how to sail!'

"I hope you're interested in 'learning how to sail,' regardless of how much knowledge and experience with Choice Theory you bring to the voyage. The journey is an exciting one. As you become more skilled and proficient in applying the concepts provided in Choice Theory, I believe you will experience your essential humanity in a powerful way. You will discover that you are internally motivated, responsible, and able to grow into the person you would like to be."