Attitude is everything.
The Rev. Bobby Laws is a firm believer in this idea. So much so, in fact, that he wrote a book about it.
When Laws' "The Positive Flow: Your Life Can Be So Much More!" was published in October, becoming an author was just the latest twist in Laws' highly unusual career path. Currently a Duke postal worker, he also recently became a pastor in Oxford, N.C., about 30 miles northeast of Durham.
Laws, now 34, said he felt a strong draw toward the ministry.
"I didn't have a dream or a revelation or anything. I just kind of knew that was what I wanted to be," he said.
At the age of 23, he became an assistant minister-the same year he began his job at with Duke Postal Operations.
"I've made a lot of great friends there," Laws said of the post office. "When people are going through things, they'll come to me to talk and to solicit prayers."
It was from these kinds of personal exchanges-in both of his workplaces-that Laws took much of the inspiration for his book, which began as a sermon that Laws delivered in October 2006.
"I attempted to turn it into a booklet, and it just snowballed," Laws said. "There was too much information, so it became a book."
Once he decided to write a book, Laws said, he wrote it in seven months.
"Most of it was stuff I knew already," Laws said, adding that much of the book's advice comes in the form of personal anecdotes. "There were a lot of life stories and a lot of heartache involved."
He said drew on his own experiences as well as those of friends and colleagues.
Laws said he hopes that his book will help others reach fulfillment, as he said he has.
"I'm a Christian, so I hope the book helps many other Christians reach their potential, but it's full of valuable principles from which people from all walks of life could benefit," he said. "In my opinion, most people go through life and never really reach their destiny or maximize the opportunities and gifts God has given them. The whole point of this book is to tell you how having a certain attitude-seeing yourself in the best possible light and seeing your circumstances in the best possible light-helps you excel in life."
In the short time since its publication, "The Positive Flow" has generated a lot of positive feedback from the Duke community, Laws said.
He added that he is excited about the book's increasing popularity throughout many Duke departments, citing examples of University employees who have purchased as many as five copies. Laws said a woman told him that she used one of the principles from the book to help her solve a personal situation.
Although his current focus is on marketing "The Positive Flow," Laws said he may have a sequel in the works before long.
"Once you start writing, you get more ideas," he said.
He mentioned "The Positive Flow, Volume II: Finding Your Design" as a potential title, adding that the second book would bring greater specificity to the overarching ideas examined in the first.
"The first book gives overall, general principles; the second one will go into fine-tuning your niche in life," Laws said.
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