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Head First! A Crash Course in Positivity
How important is your attitude? It will determine the likelihood of overcoming a challenge in your life! The good news? You can actually train and improve your attitude! This book will show you how. Steve Lawton’s attitude literally saved his life and he believes that he was brought back into the world for a purpose…to share his story and his 8 practical positivity principles. In the book, while you experience the journey of his miraculous recovery, Steve explains positivity principles with each step of the recovery in a way that you can easily apply it to your life. Steve's story will make you laugh and cry, and the 8 practical positivity principles will help you improve your attitude and overcome struggle in your life. On a beautiful morning in Breckenridge CO, Steve came out of his skis and slid into a tree at 45 mph…head first. His massive head and chest trauma, broken neck and broken back should have killed him. The surgeon said, "He’s as sick as he can be and still be alive…and he's going to get worse before he gets better." To simply survive the injuries was remarkable, but the complete recovery is a miracle. In addition to God, his helmet, the doctors, his wife, and his attitude, the real credit might just belong to a giant rubber chicken named Henrietta. Really. A three-foot-tall rubber chicken in a purple polka-dot bikini. After you read it, see if you agree.
140 pages, Paperback
Published September 10, 2016
5 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 7, 2024
I read this many years ago and enjoyed.
Met the author earlier in 2023 as he is the husband of a best friend from high school. Really enjoyed the second time around and much needed at the start of the new year!
Met the author earlier in 2023 as he is the husband of a best friend from high school. Really enjoyed the second time around and much needed at the start of the new year!
June 8, 2018
I was asked to review this book by its publicist with no strings attached, and the original review was published on my blog. It is both a memoir and a self-help book.
Several years ago, the author had a life-threatening skiing accident in Colorado that would have killed most people and left many others with lifelong disabilities. His almost-complete recovery has been nothing short of miraculous, and he credits his faith, his support network of family and friends, and his strong mental fitness in the form of a “positivity” mindset. The book is part of his dedicated effort to help others by recounting his harrowing accident and grueling recovery with important lessons he learned along the way—lessons he believes will serve anyone when they encounter life challenges of all kinds.
Lawton makes an excellent case for the value of cultivating a positive mindset before you encounter a challenge—like an athlete building muscles and stamina that will serve her well when she has to run a race or enter a competition. He gives practical examples for doing this. His voice is engaging, and Steve Lawton seems like the kind of fellow you’d like to have in your corner when the chips are down.
This story and the author’s encouraging message would be enormously helpful to someone facing an ordeal or challenge. Equally important, it provides valuable insights for family members and friends to help them better understand how to help someone going through a traumatic situation.
The eight practical tools for increasing positivity include:
Remember: Everything happens for a reason
• Focus on what you can control
• Learn to laugh in the midst of your pain
• Take smaller steps to work to a larger goal
• Know when and where to push yourself
• Invest positivity into your network
• Create a personal positivity practice
• Embrace growing pains and learn from your struggles
I imagine this content conveys better in a public speaking format than in a book (see his TEDX talk). While the message is both important and valuable to almost anyone, the book desperately needed more editing to get rid of repetition, too many trite clichés, and the unfortunate use of smiley faces.
In spite of its flaws, this book is a story about overcoming obstacles, and we can all use some help with that.
Several years ago, the author had a life-threatening skiing accident in Colorado that would have killed most people and left many others with lifelong disabilities. His almost-complete recovery has been nothing short of miraculous, and he credits his faith, his support network of family and friends, and his strong mental fitness in the form of a “positivity” mindset. The book is part of his dedicated effort to help others by recounting his harrowing accident and grueling recovery with important lessons he learned along the way—lessons he believes will serve anyone when they encounter life challenges of all kinds.
Lawton makes an excellent case for the value of cultivating a positive mindset before you encounter a challenge—like an athlete building muscles and stamina that will serve her well when she has to run a race or enter a competition. He gives practical examples for doing this. His voice is engaging, and Steve Lawton seems like the kind of fellow you’d like to have in your corner when the chips are down.
This story and the author’s encouraging message would be enormously helpful to someone facing an ordeal or challenge. Equally important, it provides valuable insights for family members and friends to help them better understand how to help someone going through a traumatic situation.
The eight practical tools for increasing positivity include:
Remember: Everything happens for a reason
• Focus on what you can control
• Learn to laugh in the midst of your pain
• Take smaller steps to work to a larger goal
• Know when and where to push yourself
• Invest positivity into your network
• Create a personal positivity practice
• Embrace growing pains and learn from your struggles
I imagine this content conveys better in a public speaking format than in a book (see his TEDX talk). While the message is both important and valuable to almost anyone, the book desperately needed more editing to get rid of repetition, too many trite clichés, and the unfortunate use of smiley faces.
In spite of its flaws, this book is a story about overcoming obstacles, and we can all use some help with that.
May 18, 2019
What else can I say about this great read except that my brother in law, Steve, has turned his very traumatic experience into a lesson in positivity and made it an easy to understand course. I am biased of course because all of us who have had the pleasure of being in Steve’s family have benefited from his awesome winning attitude! Thank you Steve and Deanna for being my favorite role models!
February 16, 2017
In March 2014, Steve Lawton almost died while skiing in Colorado. He suffered from bleeding in the brain, collapsed lungs, and a torn artery, and he broke his sternum, an arm, three ribs, and six vertebrae. But miraculously, he lived – and he’s thriving. In August 2016, he stood before an audience at a TEDX conference, looking as if he had never been hurt at all.
Lawton’s book Head First! Crash Course in Positivity is all about maintaining positivity and hope. It’s a good book – after just reading a couple of pages, I could tell I was hooked. Positivity and optimism are much-needed things in an often cruel and chaotic world. Obviously there is no end-all, be-all cure to gloominess; life certainly has its ups and downs. But the book does offer a good dose of encouragement. Lawton overcame immense challenges, and his story is certainly a great inspiration.
*I received this book for review*
Lawton’s book Head First! Crash Course in Positivity is all about maintaining positivity and hope. It’s a good book – after just reading a couple of pages, I could tell I was hooked. Positivity and optimism are much-needed things in an often cruel and chaotic world. Obviously there is no end-all, be-all cure to gloominess; life certainly has its ups and downs. But the book does offer a good dose of encouragement. Lawton overcame immense challenges, and his story is certainly a great inspiration.
*I received this book for review*
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews