October 13, 2025   |   Tagged Motivation,

What is perseverance and how to get more of it

“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.”

What is perseverance?

The etymology of this word is very interesting—to go through difficulty without quitting—to suffer through.

It’s different than resilience which means to get back up again. It is different than grit.

Perseverance is the discipline, mindset and focus to keep moving through difficulty when it would be easiest to quit.

Why perseverance matters?
As you can imagine the research on the value of perseverance is obvious but also shocking. We all know we need this in our lives, but do we know how much we need it?

Perseverance leads to proven character. You prove you can do what you aspire to do. Perseverance is an absolute must have quality when facing difficulties, hardships, challenges of any kind. The benefits are many but let’s just think about one—wellbeing. What is that worth in your life?

Well-being is articulated by a sense of inner peace, joy, inner confidence, and optimism. Those with higher feelings of well-being achieve more, have stronger relationships, and experience greater feelings of abundance and peace.

How is a feeling of well-being connected to perseverance?
Before we consider that, think about how we often resist perseverance. It’s amazing how attractive it is to gravitate towards comfort and ease. We want what feels good—comfort food, comfort clothes, comfort living, no challenges. But avoidance of challenges in our lives leads to greater inner fear and lower self-confidence. Facing challenges and difficulties can be uncomfortable but it builds an inner fortitude and power that leads to a good life. We can be physically comfortable and yet be internally suffering. We can go through hardship and yet have inner well-being. This is the outcome of those who persevere through hardship.

Best Ways to Build Perseverance

Change the way you speak about difficulties and challenges. Your words build your world. How you speak matters. Refrain the challenge, be positive, speak what you want to see happen.

Reframe the challenge. Instead of saying, “This is so hard”, tell yourself you love challenges. Very interesting research on scholarship success in reading or math showed the number one difference wasn’t in talent or aptitude but in attitude. Those who had the attitude of joy for math or reading pushed through when facing difficult books or equations, those who disliked math or reading or believed they were not good at these subjects, quit.

Do the hardest thing first. Build a muscle of perseverance when you have the momentum of positive energy. Get the ball rolling in the right direction. Start small and develop muscle. Don’t try and run 5 miles if you haven’t run at all. Have grace for yourself and add more perseverance each day.

Write out your plan. A written plan is keeps you determined and on the path.

Use a talented community to build perseverance. When you work out in a group, when you have others working with you who have high perseverance, you can develop higher thresholds of perseverance. This helps give you the strength to start improving your own level of perseverance.

Higher Conscientiousness is connected to higher perseverance. Do you know what high conscientiousness means? It is the internal drive to do a job well and to the best of your ability. This inner goal to do your work well leads to higher levels of perseverance.

Delayed Gratification is also connected to higher levels of perseverance. Another huge quality in those with perseverance is delayed gratification. The ability to say no to something until a better time. Saying no to a movie until the homework is finished. Saying no to sugar to be a healthier athlete.

Perseverance Self Test

• I finish what I start
• I write down my goals before I start
• I do the hard work first
• I follow through with excellence
• People can count of me to finish the job
• I am relentless about follow through
• I do not need continuous reminding to finish
• My work ethic is worthy of imitation
• I set a strong pace for those around me to follow through

About NBC Basketball,

Since 1971, NBC Basketball has been building athletes on and off the court. Find out more at www.nbccamp.com.