Dr Cal Crow, co-founder and programme director of the Center for Learning Connections in Washington, USA, identified several further attributes of resilient people:

• Resilient people have a positive image of the future. That is, they maintain a positive outlook, and envisage brighter days ahead
• Resilient people have solid goals and a desire to achieve those goals
• Resilient people are empathetic and compassionate, but they don’t waste time worrying what others think of them. They maintain healthy relationships, but don’t bow to peer pressure
• Resilient people never think of themselves as victims – they focus their time and energy on changing the things that they have control over.

How we view adversity and stress strongly affects how we succeed, and this is one of the most important reasons why having a resilient mindset is so vital.

We are all going to fail from time to time. It’s an inevitable part of living that we make mistakes and occasionally fall flat on our faces. The only way to avoid this is to live a shuttered and meagre existence, never trying anything or taking a risk. Few of us want a life like that.