I'll profess, I am a HUGE fan of Harry Potter.
The films are great, but the books are simply on another level.
From The Philosopher's Stone to The Deathly Hallows, the entire series is a wonderful, intricate, meticulously planned piece of art.
There are countless subtle links, ingenious connections planted in the early books that are cultivated and grown into vital components of the plot.
There are also many life lessons to be taken away, whether it be about friendship, love, choice, power, or death.
To me, the impact of the Harry Potter in the twenty-first century is unrivalled.
And, given that over 500 MILLION books have been sold worldwide, and 37% of ALL children have read at least one of them, I'd say that quite a few people agree with me.
The creator of this phenomenon?
Joanne Rowling, more commonly known as J.K. Rowling.
She is the richest ever author, worth more than The Queen.
In all honesty, given the sheer ubiquity of Harry Potter, JKR should be viewed with the same respect and influence as the likes of Shakespeare and Dickens, certainly in terms of cultural impact (although she doesn't quite get the same recognition, being contemporary and still alive).
So what can we learn from her?
3 Things To Learn From J.K. Rowling:
1) Go Against The Crowd
JKR sent the first drafts of Harry Potter to twelve different publishers, and was rejected each time, before Bloomsbury decided to take a chance on her.
She was rejected twelve times.
Think about that.
She could've taken those rejections as a sign that society wouldn't like her ideas.
But she knew she was onto something.
So she kept at it.
How often in your life have you shown such relentless, unwavering perseverance?
How often have you stopped yourself from doing something, simply because you thought it would set you out as 'different' from the rest?
Fuck that; Aspire to be not only different, but to be more than the sheep of society.
Incidentally, JKR has kept those twelve rejection letters over the years, undoubtedly using them as fuel to motivate her.
She recently posted a picture of them on Twitter to do the same for other budding writers.
2) Thrive On Imagination
It was a delayed train journey from Manchester to London in 1990 that inspired hers.
Despite dealing with depression and the death of her mother, Rowling channelled this into her writing, reflected by the centrality of death to the HP novels.
While teaching English in the Portuguese city of Porto, she continued writing on the side, and when she returned to Edinburgh in 1993, she was a divorced, jobless, single mother.
But she kept writing.
Kept churning out genius characters, places, and plots, one after another.
Use this as a reminder that even the most unusual of things can trigger your creativity, and that there are always positives even in the most serious, adverse situations.
3) Stay Humble
How far are you willing to go in order to achieve your dream?
For Rowling, it was rock bottom (which, she says, "became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life").
She and her infant daughter had to live off benefits, and JKR wrote most of the early Harry Potter books in cafes while her daughter slept beside her.
Being willing to live below your means is an often-required part of becoming successful.
As is being willing to deal with doubt and scepticism.
Be humble enough to realise that you do NOT know everything; to become excellent at something you must be willing to look bad at first.
Rowling herself said: "I've never been remotely ashamed of having been depressed. Never. What’s to be ashamed of? I went through a really rough time and I am quite proud that I got out of that."
Check your ego at the door, and channel some JKR humility.
There's so much to be learnt from JK Rowling's life, and I want to personally express my gratitude to all she's taught me - fictional writing can be a vessel for social change, and cultivating the right values in people.
If you have kids, I HIGHLY recommend that you buy the Harry Potter books for them.
If you're an adult, and have somehow never read them, I suggest the same.
And remember that You'll Never Walk Alone.
Until the next time...
Alex (N.Y.A.)
Something Extra
To discover more about JK Rowling, you can do more than read Harry Potter:
Watch her Harvard Commencement Address
Listen to a PotterCast podcast interview with her
Check out this documentary following a year in her life
Marvel at her individuality, imagination, and humility.
Aspire to be more like JK Rowling.