Self-discipline and perseverance are two of my character traits I've been taking for granted since my childhood. It was since I started coaching other people four years ago that I've discovered to my surprise that these two character traits are exceptions rather than norms among many people.
Then I've also started paying closer attention to other people than my coaching clients and haven't found too many people who are also self-disciplined and persevere to pursue their goals until they attain them (and even afterwards).
Regardless of how I've acquired these two character traits, they've definitely helped me in many ways, especially in coping with various obstacles in life. The following is a partial list of the years of my perseverance for specific goals in life in the chronological order:
- 4.5 years: self-study of Hebrew until being accepted as a PhD student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- 11.5 years: preparation of a PhD dissertation in Hebrwe linguistics at this university
- 4.5 years: receiving a permanent position in Hebrew linguistics at Bar-Ilan university after PhD
- 5.5 years: receiving tenure at this university
- 53.5 years (since birth) ;-) / 8.5 years (since I started thinking seriously): getting married
When I received tenure and then got married, I thought I wouldn't have to repeat the same or similar Sisyphean labor again, but I was totally wrong.
It's four and six years respectively since I left academia of my own free will officially and practically, but I'm still struggling to earn enough to make both ends meet. Since I launched my private business six years ago, I've been updating my business blog at least once a week.
When it comes to my private life, my next goal is to get married again, mainly for further growth. I want to implement the lessons I've learned from all the mistakes I had in my first marriage. It's also about six years since I got divorced. Though I feel I'm already ready emotionally to get married again, I don't think I'm ready in a few other areas, which means that first, I have to persevere until I become ready, and only then I have to persevere further for this goal itself.