[May 12, 2013] Newsman Adams teaches how to be positive Tweet May 12, 2013 (South Bend Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Charlie Adams experienced plenty of stress during his time as a television news reporter. Best known to local viewers as a longtime sports reporter for WSBT-TV (owned by Schurz Communications Inc., which owns The Tribune), Adams says he started reading motivational books as a coping mechanism. "In the high stress world of TV news, I found that my attitude was challenged," he says. "And that is when I started reading (motivational books) because I needed the tools to stay positive in a very challenging environment." Adams says motivational books by well-known writers such as Zig Ziglar and Norman Vincent Peale occupy a large segment of his bookshelf. He's added to his collection by writing "Stoke the Fire Within: A Guide to Igniting Your Life" and his new book, "How to Build a Positive Attitude and Keep the Darn Thing!!" Adams says his motivational books are outgrowths from his newscaster days "I emphasized the positive and for several years did positive news stories," he says. Adams says one question he asked while doing those stories was how did the people manage to remain upbeat. "I accumulated all of this information over the years, and I wanted to put it into a book to help people," he says. Adams says he developed a two-hour seminar on the subject of building and maintaining a positive attitude, and the response was revealing. "I would do it and the conference room would just fill up," he says. "That showed me that people were looking to find a few tools to be more positive. "All of those things led to where I decided that I had to put this in a book form." Adams discusses the tools needed to build and maintain a positive attitude. He tells a story about someone or something positive in the next chapter. Sometimes the story is connected to the tool Adams discusses in the previous chapter, and sometimes it is not. Adams also includes space on some of the book's pages for readers to take notes. "I found that audiences like tools and stories," Adams says. "I also found that a lot of people like to take notes and I said that in this book I will leave space where people can take notes." Those blank lines at the end of certain pages also serve as a way for Adams to challenge his readers. "I am going to challenge them at the end of certain chapters to write how they will take steps to be more positive, so the book will have a journal feel to it," he says. "I want this to be more than a book. I want it to be a resource that they can go back to over time." ___ (c)2013 the South Bend Tribune (South Bend, Ind.) Visit the South Bend Tribune (South Bend, Ind.) at www.southbendtribune.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]