You can’t allow your problems to derail your progress. When you stop trying to break through, you’ll eventually break down. Understand that you will be tempted to quit when you face obstacles.

Whatever road you are on you can rest assured that there will be problems. In fact, the road of success is paved with obstacles. Only the ones that keep on keepin’ on truly make it to the end. The good news is that the more problems you navigate through, the easier it is to deal with them. You get stronger and stronger after each victory. This is why highly successful people keep incredibly calm when facing big problems while others freak out.

If you remain faithful to keep pressing on you will become better and wiser after each issue you tackle. Difficulties don’t exist to make life harder; they exist to make us stronger. Consider it part of the initiation to success. Einstein said, “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” Don’t bail out and surrender too quickly–be committed for the long haul.

Here is how we can commit to breaking through problems:

Be Patient

Commit to being a problem solver for life. The path of success is not one of smooth seas and a warm breeze. Patiently persist by working challenges out over time. Don’t expect everything to change overnight. Remember, it’s those who have the stamina to last that become the winners. 

If you don’t have an unwavering sense of determination, you will give up when things get shaky…and things always get shaky. Radio personality Paul Harvey used to say, “You can tell you’re on the road to success; it’s uphill all the way.”

Be Persistent

Sometimes it’s the tenth time you’ve engaged a problem that you have the one moment of breakthrough. Persistence is a trait of the successful. The secret to overcoming is to outlast your challenges. You have to have a strong sense of commitment not to allow a problem to get the best of you. Never give up until you have engaged a challenge to its core. Keep digging in until you hit the root and don’t let up until then. 

Michael Jordan said, “If you’re trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I’ve had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”

Be Passionate

You won’t stay with a problem unless you are passionate to solve it. Half-heartedly approaching a challenge will never get you to the other side. You need to connect your effort to a strong sense of why the problem must be solved. The higher the stakes, the more likely you are to stay with it. The lower the stakes, the less likely you will be committed. 

Connect the dots of why the problem must be solved, and you’ll develop the grit to get through it. Clearly identify your “why” and it will fill your tank with passionate energy to the solution. Leonardo da Vinci said, “Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.”

Once you’ve properly engaged your challenges and identified why they exist, you can move on to solving them.