Beyond Hard Work: The Real Secret to Reaching Your Goals

Time, Patience, and Perseverance: My Hardest but Greatest Lesson

“The strongest of all warriors are these two — Time and Patience.”Leo Tolstoy wrote that line more than a century ago, but I would add a third warrior to the team: Perseverance.

For most of my life, I believed that hard work alone would bring success. If I poured in enough effort, results had to follow—right? But chasing my dreams taught me a very different truth. Even when you give everything you have, failures still happen.

Doors close.

Plans fall apart.

And no amount of pure effort can guarantee a smooth road.

What matters most is what happens after those disappointments.

Do we stop and reflect, or do we simply push harder in the same direction?

Do we ask ourselves why something isn’t working, or do we let frustration take over?

I had to learn to pause and think:

• What obstacle is blocking me?

• What skill am I missing?

• Is there another way forward, even if it takes longer?

That “longer way” is never easy

That “longer way” is never easy. It demands patience when every part of you wants quick results. It asks you to learn new skills and try methods you never imagined.

And it requires the courage to start again—sometimes from scratch.

Patience, I’ll admit, has never been my strength. I’m naturally restless. I want to see progress fast. But my perseverance has always saved me. Whenever one path failed, I looked for another. If Plan A collapsed, I built a Plan B, Plan C, even a Plan D. And if none of them worked, I trusted that the journey itself would show me what lesson I still needed to learn.

Today I know this: time, patience, and perseverance are not just nice words.

They are the foundation of every lasting success.

Quick wins fade.

But the growth you gain from staying the course—through every delay and detour—becomes a part of who you are.

So when something isn’t going my way, I don’t quit. I take a breath, study the problem, and search for new solutions. And every time, the process itself guides me toward the next step.

Success may take longer than you wish, but if you give yourself time, stay patient, and refuse to stop, you will get there.

The warriors: Time, Patience, and Perseverance never lose.