I think part of the answer is that you have to have a clear long-term goal that is very important to you, and keeping that goal in mind when are tempted to quit.

If you don't know yourself well enough to know what goal is truly important to you, you risk abandoning your task when the going gets tough. So self-knowledge is also important.

I think that's part of the reason why so many young people don't do that well in school.. they either don't know what they want or think they want one thing when they really don't. Once they mature, understand themselves better and so know what they really want then achieving it could become much easier (assuming they're not burnt out or too old by then).

Also, I'm not by any means a master at this, so I try to look to people who are, and learn from them. For me that means people who've been able to achieve amazing feats of endurance, like Robert Owens[1] and David Goggins[2], or have overcome some incredible adversity, like Brooke Ellison[3] and Kyle Maynard[4].

From some of them, I remember learning to focus on the present, on putting one foot in front of the other, in a kind of hyperfocus on exactly and only the very smallest thing you need to do right now, then doing it again, and again, and again, and again.

Another lesson I'm now remembering learning from many of them is that they built up a stock of achievements they could recall when the going got tough. Knowing that they persevered and succeeded before gave them confidence that they could do it again.

You also have to have hope, be willing to try (and try your best, no matter what the outcome), and somehow overcome depression and other mental issues, if you suffer from them. Therapy works for some, medication or other medical interventions work for others, religion for still others, but ultimately there are no sure or easy answers here.

Having a strong support network and mentors also really helps a lot. It's very difficult to go it alone, though some truly exceptional people manage it (though even then there's usually something in their early life that helped -- often parents or other sources of guidance)... I'm thinking of POW's and concentration camp survivors. Speaking of which, I can highly recommend Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning,[5] as it's about why people endured in the absolute worst circumstances imaginable.

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg9kJeule7Q

[2] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78I9dTB9vqM

[3] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alf_I1p7bds

[4] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqRJ-178dVk

[5] - https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/...

On The Shortness of Life by Seneca.[1]

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl is also excellent.[2]

[1] - https://tripinsurancestore.com/4/on-the-shortness-of-life.pd...

[2] - https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/...

Anyone interested in this would do well to read Victor Frankl's "Man's Search For Meaning" about his imprisonment in Auschwitz.[1] He found that a sense of meaning was critical to survival there, and went on to develop a new school of psychotherapy he called "logotherapy", which focused on finding meaning in life.[2]

[1] - https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/...

[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logotherapy

I am a proponent for depth over breadth. To read is one thing but to understand is another. Rather than read 5 books and superficially grasp their concepts, read one closely and carefully.

The one book I wish my colleagues would read and learn from is "Man's Search for Meaning" by Victor Frankl [1].

"Between stimulus and response lies a space. In that space lie our freedom and power to choose a response. In our response lies our growth and our happiness."

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/...

When Breathe Becomes Air (https://www.amazon.com/When-Breath-Becomes-Paul-Kalanithi/dp...) and Man's Search for Meaning (https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/...)

I just read the book Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankel. I think it does a fantastic job of answering the questions about the meaning of life.

Viktor came up with the theory of Logotherapy which in a nutshell has 3 parts:

- Life has meaning under all circumstances, even the most miserable ones.

- Our main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life.

- We have freedom to find meaning in what we do, and what we experience, or at least in the stand we take when faced with a situation of unchangeable suffering

https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/...

Read Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. It's about a psychiatrist's experience in Auschwitz, and helps with identifying purpose and finding meaning in life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning

https://archive.org/details/MansSearchForMeaning_201507

http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/0...

Try to be 1% better and whatever you're focusing on improving. It's manageable. It's realistic. It adds up.

Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl

http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/0...

When this topic comes up, I always recommend Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl: http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/0...

Anyone interested in learning about human perseverance would do well to spend a couple hours reading Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning.

It's short. It's accessible. There is also a noticeable absence of Richard Gere.

“In psychiatry there is a certain condition known as delusion of reprieve. The condemned man, immediately before his execution, gets the illusion that he might be reprieved at the very last minute. No one could yet grasp the fact that everything would be taken away. all we possessed, literally, was our naked existence.”

The trick is that our naked existence is all we ever have. Learning to deal with this fact, to accept and and even rely on this fundamental truth, is the first step towards developing a real purpose in life. This is the kind of thing that will get you out of bed each day.

http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/0...