How Long Until It Works?

How many times can you try before you give up entirely? How many times should you try before giving up becomes acceptable? Nobody has arrived at a fixed number of iterations one must endure before giving up becomes normal or necessary. I have been writing for a long time, yet I do not know how consistent I need to be. Sometimes a first-time author becomes a bestseller, while someone else writes ten books and still manages to sell only a thousand copies. The contrast is stark, and the advice remains the same: don’t give up. It sounds compelling, but continuing is not easy, especially when success is nowhere in sight. There are two ways in which persistence is framed: repetitions and iterations. Repetitions apply to tasks where you aim to achieve mastery, like building muscle. You keep putting in the repetitions with progressive overload, and your body eventually adapts to the tension, developing the strength to withstand it. You do not gain fully formed muscles in a month, but you do…