persistence

"Do not despise the bottom rungs in the ascent to greatness."

What does it mean to be successful? I believe that no one can truly reach a well-defined state of success. Rather, success is a never-ending journey of growth and development, where achieving one goal or solving one problem simply opens the door to a bigger - or perhaps better - problem.

From this perspective, people who appear more successful can be seen as having achieved more of their goals. Unfortunately, we are all born with differences in ability, circumstance, and opportunity. As a result, some people are simply born into a state of "more success" that others have to work incredibly hard to reach. Let's assume it's reasonable to model how high one can climb on their ladder of success based on two parameters: their starting point, and their level of mobility, i.e. their ability to achieve things. Only mobility is open for adjustment. So, a good question to ask would be, "how do I improve my mobility?"

Mobility in this context is a complicated aggregate of all the various attributes and characteristics of a person, including their habits, their mindset, their level of physical fitness, and much more. However, I believe there is one characteristic that has a much greater weighting than the rest. Since I was young, I've observed that all the people around me that I would look up to, that have achieved many things, all share a common characteristic. They are all incredibly persistent. They are willing to chip away at something for hours on end with unwavering commitment, making marginal improvements day after day. They find so much joy and genuine satisfaction in that process. Those marginal improvements accumulate, and that accumulated difference is what allows them to shine so brightly compared to everyone else.

Like most behaviours, persistence can be learned. Learning a musical instrument teaches persistence. So does learning a sport, or any skill-based physical activity. Even playing video games teaches persistence. After dedicating hundreds and hundreds of hours into improving at something, you realize that mindset of marginal, consistent improvement can be applied to virtually any aspect of your life. Whether it be academics, career, relationships, fitness, truly anything.