Even Indiana Jones would probably have given up.

Howard Carter and his team dug through hundreds of boulders in Egypt's Valley of the Kings for about five arduous years, looking for the lost tomb of Tutankhamun. His research told him the tomb was there. But no one — not even he — could find it thousands of years after the child king's death. Carter's once enthusiastic financial backer was losing patience.

But in one of history's greatest examples of persistence with a massive payoff, Carter removed rubble that revealed the entrance of the tomb on Nov. 25, 1922. His discovery is still considered the most significant archaeological feat in modern times, Tarek El-Awady, curator of the "King Tut: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh" exhibit, told IBD in an email sent from Egypt. "Howard Carter's discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun still stands as the greatest discovery made by man," El-Awady said.

The valuable treasures Carter found still draw crowds to museums around the world. But what Carter did to achieve his goals and persevere is equally priceless, including:

  • Combine your talents to create a unique skill set.

Carter was never formally trained as an archaeologist or even a scientist. He was the son of an artist and an artist himself. But he learned about archaeology on the job after he was hired at the age of 17 to draw Egyptian artifacts for a wealthy family. His skill as an artist won him a spot traveling to Egypt alongside some of the best archaeologists of all time, including Percy Newberry. From them he learned how to carefully excavate and catalog a dig's artifacts. This knowledge, paired with his previous training as an artist, created a powerful blend of skill sets that few in the world possessed. "He learned a lot on the job. You can't learn it until you're standing there having to do it," Pearce Creasman, associate professor and director of the Egyptian Expedition at the University of Arizona told IBD. "He put all the pieces together and learned from all these people and added his special skill (of drawing) to the mix."

Carter's skill set was so unique that he commanded respect on digs and was later named chief inspector for the Egyptian Antiquities Service — a position that would set him up for success later.

  • Record and remember everything you learn.

From Newberry and others, Carter learned the importance of being highly detailed in cataloging everything he found. His journals of findings are richly illustrated in painstaking detail — a standard practice in archaeology today — but perhaps seen as excessive or even obsessive in the day.

To capture every detail, Carter developed a breakthrough system of classifying digs that culminated with the King Tut discovery. Every group of objects found was designated with a number from one to 620, Nicholas Reeves and John Taylor wrote in "Howard Carter Before Tutankhamun." Smaller groups of items found were then notated with single or multiple letters, such as a, b, c, aa, bb, cc and aaa, bbb, ccc.

Again, this was Carter applying his talents to something he learned from someone else. Carter "learned excavation with British excavator Flinders Petrie, who taught him the importance of small finds," Brian Fagen, an archaeologist and emeritus professor of anthropology at University of California, Santa Barbara, told IBD. "Researchers working on the tomb still consult his notebooks, which are an exceptional record, far ahead of their time."

  • Learn from "experts" but trust your instincts.

Carter closely observed and took valuable tips from "experts." But just as importantly, he knew what to ignore, too. Theodore Davis, a wealthy U.S. attorney and successful archaeologist whom Carter was working with, declared in the early 1910s that all the great finds in the Valley of the Kings already had been found.

Carter disregarded Davis' "expert opinion." Carter's own experience proved to be just as precious, if not more than Davis'. Carter "was a maverick operator, stubborn, ambitious and brimming with self-confidence," William Cross, author of "Carnarvon, Carter and Tutankhamun Revisited: The Hidden Truths and Doomed Relationships," told IBD. "His know-how, spark and ingenuity convinced him that the tomb of Tutankhamun was somewhere in the Valley of the Kings."

After Davis gave up on the dig, Carter had to find another backer to fund a continued search.

  • Bet on yourself — but make sure you have a backer.

Carter quit his stable job as an inspector for the Egyptian archaeological service in 1905 to free up time for his search. Some of the hardest years of his life followed.

Carter's quest for the tomb was almost an obsession. But he knew that to complete it he would need financial backing. After Davis left the quest, Carter teamed up with a new financial supporter, wealthy Briton Lord Carnarvon. The difficulty was convincing him to keep writing the checks even as Carter found nothing year after year.

When Carnarvon grew frustrated and was about to cut off Carter's financing, Carter modified his approach to appeal to Carnarvon's sense as an investor. In those times, archaeologist teams kept half of what they found and returned the remainder to Egypt. Carter knew the cost of financing another dig was a fraction of the reward possible if they found the tomb. He explained the economics to Carnarvon and said if he wouldn't pay to keep digging, Carter would from his own pocket. The pitch was so compelling — blending economic reasoning with scientific precision — it convinced Carnarvon to keep writing the checks. "He got one guy to buy in and sometimes that's all it takes, is one person to make something really big happen," Creasman said.

Carter's sharp tongue might have made it difficult to sell his idea, but he "was smart enough and eloquent enough in tales about Tutankhamun's lost tomb to be enticed and trusted by millionaire investors looking to cash in on antiquities, and the glint of gold to come," Cross said.

  • Don't just picture success. Visualize how you'll get there — long term.

Just imagining your success isn't going to do much. Success comes to those who visualize how to get there. Carter provides an example. While still antiquities inspector, Carter looked back and examined all the successful digs in the Valley of the Kings. Not just his, but everyone's. Most archaeologists randomly dug. But Carter applied his detailed grid-block system of analysis to past discoveries. This allowed him to build a holistic picture in his mind of what was explored, and what wasn't. By "retroactively applying to all the work done in the Valley of the Kings … he knew areas that other people had missed," Creasman said. By studying past records, Carter knew others "dug 10 feet to the right and 20 feet to the left, and 15 feet over here. They had not dug everything, everywhere."

Perhaps it was another example of how Carter elevated archaeology by blending facets of his unique mind as an artist would. Carter's attention to detail allowed him to visualize what parts of the valley were "clean territory — an area no one has ever excavated," Creasman said.

"He had this map in his head, along with internal motivation," Creasman said. "I haven't done everything I can do until I've done this. When people obsess on a thing, they can't let it go."

  • Enjoy your work. Passion drives persistence and success.

Carter loved his life's work — ever since starting out as an artist. That passion drove him to keep looking and learning. Others who were purely driven by money would have given up. "Working in the Valley of the Kings is like magic, the silence and the absolute power of the cliffs surrounding the valley makes every Egyptologist willing to spend his entire life working and working, running after a dream that might or might not ever come true," El-Awady said.

His passion yielded success even when he wasn't trying. In addition to exploring and drawing, Carter loved horses and riding the west bank of Luxor, El-Awady says. "One of his greatest discoveries happened when the leg of his horse got stuck in a hole that turned out to be the symbolic burial of King Mentuhotep II (Dynasty 11)," El-Awady said. "In this tomb, the beautiful statue of the king was discovered."

Carter brought "long-term planning, the need for a disciplined approach to finding and excavating sites, and the necessity for recording everything with photographs, drawings, or in writing," Fagen said. "He really was one of the first modern archaeologists, with a unique eye for detail, and always a mind for the long-term outcome of the project."

Carter's Keys

Apply your unique interests and abilities to your profession to reinvent what's possible.

Overcame: Many failed attempts to find King Tut's tomb and loss of financial backing

"All we have to do is to peel the shrines like an onion, and we will be with the king himself."