Many people mistakenly confuse resilience with determination, but they are very different. Determination is described as “firmness of purpose.” While resilience is described as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties,” Resiliency is one quality I’ve put a lot of effort and energy into improving over the years. I’m not where I want to be yet, but I’m continuing to work on it. One of the reasons resiliency is important is because it saves time. The faster you bounce back from difficulties, the sooner you can learn a lesson and move on with your life. I’ve noticed that there are some people who, no matter the hardship they face, are able to bounce back very quickly. I’ve noticed three popular figures in pop culture that are very resilient. Despite the hardship they faced, they seemed to bounce back faster than the average person. Rihanna, Kanye West, and Mike Tyson are great examples of resiliency being a major factor in their success. We can learn a lot from them and apply it to our lives.

Rihanna—We Can Learn Diligence

Rihanna exploded on the music scene with her debut single, “Pon De Replay,” back in 2005. Since then, the island girl from Barbados has grown into the mega superstar that we know today. That journey to the top hasn’t been a smooth and easy ride. The pop star had to endure hardship, both financially and personally, that would have derailed many entertainers careers.

When many people think of Rihanna and any hardship she faced, they think of the 2009 domestic incident between her and her then-boyfriend Chris Brown. Not many knew that Rihanna was very close to bankruptcy. Three years later, in 2012, according to a Rolling Stone article, Rihanna filed a lawsuit against her former accountants, accusing them of giving poor money management advice and taking a higher than normal percentage of tour revenue that wasn’t standard to the industry. She also accused the accountants of being a cause of hardship due to being audited by the IRS because the accountants mismanaged her taxes. An article by the Daily Mail back in 2014 stated that “she had $11 million in cash in January 2009 but just $2 million left at the end of the year.” At the time, Rihanna’s finances were a messy nightmare. We hear stories like this many times in the music industry, and not many individuals bounce back from it.

According to the same article, in five years Rihanna’s net worth grew to $43 million. Business Insider lists Rihanna’s net worth today at $600 million. Rihanna had to be very resilient to bounce back in such a short time. At the time she was at the height of her career, which gave her the opportunity to earn a lot of money. Moving forward, she didn’t quit but instead took proactive actions. She fired her accountants, sued them, and won the case. In situations like this, some people lose trust in others and refuse to continue out of fear of being taken advantage of once again. Instead, Rihanna replaced her old accountants and moved forward. What she did differently was to keep an eye on them to make sure what happened once before didn’t happen again. The road to financial freedom, no matter who you are, will be bumpy and rough. Giving up is not an option. There’s this saying that goes, “You won’t fail if you don’t quit.”

Kanye West—We Can Learn To Ignore The Naysayers

The next person we will talk about is Kanye West. We can learn a lot from Kanye’s resiliency. His ability to bounce back quickly from failures, all while ignoring naysayers, is many times overshadowed by his antics and controversial statements. Nonetheless, whether his behavior is a result of mental illness or he is a spoiled child that throws tantrums to get what he wants or a combination of both, it’s hard to deny his success. Sometimes the reason some people take so long to get back up after a failure is because they are too concerned with what other people are saying about them. Be like Kanye, believe in yourself, and continue to fight on your terms.

The lesson we can learn from Kanye about resiliency is that many people will not agree with our methods and tactics. Sometimes they believe that your goal is not worth going for, that you should not try as hard as you are trying, or that you’re crazy. Just like Kanye, you must keep going. Despite Kanye’s outrageous public behavior, he usually achieves what he wants. Keep in mind that Kanye’s journey to where he is today was very rocky. Outside of his public controversial actions that he keeps bouncing back from, he had other issues he had to overcome. While making his name as a producer, his rap career began after a car accident that almost took his life. Years later, at the height of his career, his mom passed away from a botched cosmetic surgery. More recently, we see the deterioration of a friendship with Jay-Z that Kanye holds dearly to his heart. Not many people would have bounced back from these and continued to pursue their goals.

Mike Tyson—We Can Learn We’re Never Too Old To Get Back In The Ring

Our third example of resiliency is Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion at the age of 20 and still holds that record today. At one point his net worth peaked at $300 million; today it is only $2 million. The lesson we can learn from Mike Tyson’s resiliency is that you’re never too old to get back out there. Even though Mike did not regain the wealth he once had—and I don’t know if that is a goal—he is back in the ring training at age 54. Many times I hear from people that I’m too old to pursue certain goals. Mike Tyson refuses to accept that. He is scheduled to fight Roy Jones Jr. on November 28, 2020. Over the years he continues to bounce back after each public controversy and obstacle. He bounced back from a tumultuous experience with his former promoter, Don King. He bounced back from a fifteen-month suspension for biting Evander Hollyfield’s ears during a fight. He spent three years in prison for a rape charge and lost his four-year-old daughter to a freak accident where a treadmill cord wrapped around her neck. Not many people would be able to survive this many challenges in one lifetime.

We Can Learn Resilience From The People In Our Everyday Lives

Celebrities aren’t the only place we can find examples of resilience. Look to your family, school, church, and community. I bet you can find examples of people who, no matter what they face, keep bouncing back. No matter how many times they get knocked down, they get back up swiftly without any hesitation. Take notes of these people and learn from them. If it is possible, talk to them and ask them what makes them resilient. Whatever you learn, apply it to your life and your financial goals. Don’t get frustrated when the road is tough. Understand life is a roller coaster and ride the ups and downs.

Final Thought

They say anything worth having is not easy to attain. Before, I did not understand and wrestled with trying to understand why anyone would want the journey to pursuing their goals to be difficult. I now come to understand that people who understand don’t necessarily desire the journey to their goals to be difficult, but they understand that when something is easy, it cheapens it. If a certain goal were easy to attain, we would put less value in it. Most times when we accomplish a goal, we’re not only celebrating the benefits that come with that goal. We are also celebrating the hard work and time we put into it, which makes that goal all the sweeter.

Resilience is an important quality to have and an important quality to develop if you do not have it. If we understand that time is a scarce resource, we wouldn’t waste any time between failures and setbacks. I do understand that pursuing a goal such as financial freedom can be a daunting journey. I also understand that because of that, we need time to recover, or we will suffer from burnout and exhaustion. In many cases some people spend so much time being down after a setback that they basically quit. We can afford for that to happen. Like many other qualities, the more we work on it, the stronger it will become.