Resilience is that ineffable quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life and come back stronger than ever. Rather than letting failure overcome them and drain their resolve, they find a way to rise from the ashes. Psychologists have identified some of the factors that make someone resilient, among them a positive attitude, optimism, the ability to regulate emotions, and the ability to see failure as a form of helpful feedback. Even after misfortune, resilient people are blessed with such an outlook that they are able to change course and soldier on.

J. K. Rowling, the second wealthiest woman in the world, is a good example of resilience. She was a struggling writer, and at the time of writing her first Harry Potter book, her life was a mess. Rowling was going through a divorce and was left to support herself and her daughter in a tiny flat in London. She was living off of government help and her mother had just passed away, things were in a rut. In 1995, when she completed her first Harry Potter book, it had been rejected by 12 publishers, yet she never gave up. Even a small publishing company told her to get a day job because they didn’t believe her children’s book would be successful. Instead of giving up she decided to devote most of her time to developing the rest of the Harry Potter series and eventually got them published.