Last night I had a conversation with my older daughters about a very important concept in achieving goals: the concept of perseverance or strength of character. I showed them a book called “Grit,” which I read a few years ago. The day I returned home about a week ago, I found the book lying around in the garage, dusty and a bit battered. I picked it up, cleaned it off, and placed it on the coffee table in our living room. That book held a lot of meaning for me when I read it, and I still have it in my Audible library. “Grit” is a very short book; the first chapter begins with the question: Should you keep going? Then it shows an image of a concept called “the dip.”

The dip is sometimes also described as the valley of despair. This is where we have to ask ourselves: When should I give up? Many times, when we find ourselves in this valley, we think about giving up, but we don’t because we think about everything we’ve already invested. But there are also situations where giving up is winning. Chapter three talks about mental strength and describes how fatigue is in your mind. If this weren’t true, athletes wouldn’t be able to continue training the way they do; once they overcome the fatigue in their minds, their bodies can’t give up. In this chapter, it gives five exercises to help make you stronger, and number five is doing things that make you uncomfortable. Perhaps some of you saw this comment on my Facebook page where I shared the fact that my children and I had returned home.

My house, my business, my career, and everything else I possess are nothing more than cause and effect. Perseverance and strength of character are what have brought me to where I am. I was in a marriage for 27 years because it was something I loved, valued, and desired; and I fought for it with passion and perseverance. And as I was telling my daughters last night, the difference between someone who has grit and someone who doesn’t lies in the results.