I’m pleased to announce the recent publication of my latest book, and my first in the self-help category, How to Survive and Thrive When Bad Things Happen: 9 Steps to Cultivating an Opportunity Mindset in a Crisis.

Here’s the book description:

Few of us go through life without experiencing some sort of crisis, whether health, financial, relationship, career, or personal safety. Crises happen and they are often out of our control. But the one thing we can control is how we respond to them. Yet, our natural instincts often hinder us as we confront today’s crises that are complex, amorphous, and not readily solvable. Changing our reaction to a crisis is an immense challenge, yet with powerful lessons provided in these pages, anyone can turn crises into opportunities for reflection, positive action, and growth. .

A crisis mentality can overwhelm you when bad things happen. Turning crises into opportunities empowers you to overcome the darkness that can engulf you in troubled times and allow you to seek the light that can guide you through hard times. Exploring the essential psychological, emotional, and interpersonal factors that most impact your reaction to a crisis, Jim Taylor provides you with deep insights and practical tools that help you move from a crisis mentality of fear, pessimism, and panic that controls you to an opportunity mindset of calm, confidence, and courage that you control in a crisis. He offers compelling examples, both recent and historical, well-known and unfamiliar, to bring these issues to life. Illustrations from government, large and small business, and ordinary people will highlight who responded well and who did not. Break free from the crisis mentality and embrace an opportunity mindset with nine strategies that will not only help you to survive, but actually thrive, when bad things happen.

And here are the blurbs:

For the last 53 years, I have been involved in managing crises caused by natural disasters (earthquakes, fires, floods and severe drought) and their aftermath; as well as human-caused crises (mass killings, serial rapists, and other forms of interpersonal human aggression). As a society, we know a lot about getting infrastructures back to “normal.” However, as individuals, we know precious little about how to minimize the effects of a crisis when it hits or thriving when it does – until now. “How to Survive and Thrive When Bad Things Happen” provides a well-thought-out, right-on-target road map for navigating the minefields we all walk through in a crisis and coming out stronger and better. (Capt. Robert J. Martin, (LAPD 1966-1994); Senior Advisor, Gavin de Becker & Associates; Senior Advisor, Violence Prevention Agency)

With values as the bedrock, practical tools to empower, and retrain-the-brain strategies to respond to today’s crises as challenges and opportunities rather than fight-or-flight, How to Survive and Thrive is a deep exploration that offers 21^stcentury solutions to our human instinct’s natural response to a crisis. (Victoria A. Hudson, U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, Retired, 3 combat-zone tours of duty)

Having experienced and led responses to more than a few crises in my military and business careers, How to Survive and Thrive resonated with me from first page to last. Dr. Taylor’s approach to how to overcome modern-day crises is both intellectually insightful and boots-on-the-ground practical. Every leader in the community, in business, and in the military, needs to read this book. (Robert O. Wray, P.E., Rear Admiral, US Navy (ret); CEO; Leadership Author)

Dr. Taylor’s book is full of wisdom and guidance for dealing with crises, both large and small, that people encounter in their lives. His book contains uniquely useful recommendations for readers when confronted with a crisis. The many quotes that he includes provide additional insight and inspiration for the reader. I recommend this innovative and thoroughly thoughtful book highly. (Joan Steidinger, Ph.D., Psychologist for San Francisco Police Departments)