The Stuff

Life is tough. To stay on top of it, you need “the stuff.”

As a college student, author Sharlee Jeter found the courage and strength to overcome Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a life-threatening disease. She is now president of the Turn 2 Foundation, which motivates young people to turn to a healthy lifestyle and away from drugs and alcohol.

Co-author Sampson Davis is an emergency room physician and co-founder of the Three Doctors Foundation, which provides free programs on education and health. He grew up in poverty in one of the worst crime-infested neighborhoods in Newark, New Jersey.

As a teenager, Davis spent time in jail because he participated in an armed-robbery attempt against supposed drug dealers. Since then, he’s led an exemplary, inspiring life.

Jeter and Davis believe in the transformative power of the stuff, which they define as “a cultivatable inner fortitude” that people muster to overcome challenges. They share stories of people who used the stuff to triumph adversity. Each story focuses on a single essential element of the stuff.

Using your stuff requires a mission statement...