No. of pages: 80 | Reading time: <30 mins | Video: Harvard Commencement Speech

In 2008, the famous author of Harry Potter book series, J. K. Rowling was invited to give a commencement speech at one of the best universities in the world, Harvard University. Only a handful of authors have given a speech at Harvard and some of them include Mexican author Carlos Fuentes in 1983 and English Author Sir Leslie Stephen (the father of Virginia Woolf) in 1890. Rowling’s speech, which can also be found on YouTube, turned out to be so inspiring that it was later published into a book and that book is Very Good Lives.

Very Good Lives is a short book of 80 pages with only a few lines in each. It is the kind of book that you can easily finish in one sitting while having a nice cup of tea, or coffee. In it, J. K. Rowling shares her life experience and discusses two key themes: the advantages of failures and why imagination is important.

She then goes on to explain how failures in her life, and how becoming extremely poor at one point shaped the person that she is today. She highlights that when you survive a setback and emerge as a wiser person, you can only be more confident with your own abilities.

“You might never fail on the scale that I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case you fail by default.”

Very Good Lives by J. K. Rowling

On imagination, Rowling explains that imagination goes far beyond bedtime stories. Imagination includes the ability to visualize living the lives of those who are less fortunate and walking in their shoes. In her speech, she talks about the importance of using the power of imagination to understand and build empathy for others, and to help improve the lives of those in need.

“We do not need magic to transform our world; we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”

Very Good Lives by J. K. Rowling

It’s such a wonderful speech from start to finish – one that motivates you and leaves you feeling grateful. Rowling then ends her speech with wishing everyone “very good lives” which befittingly becomes the title of the book. This is for sure a must-read!