Shackleton worked hard to achieve his goals. Here's a riff about the young Shackleton from Shackleton's Way...
Shackleton read with the rest of the world the fascinating news that the Belgica had left Punta Arenas, Chile, in December 1897, with plans to become the first scientific expedition to the Antarctic and to take the first photographs of the region. This event set his life on an entirely new course. He saw the potential and anticipated the popularity of Antarctic exploration and set out to acquire a new set of skills. In 1899, he joined the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), where he was exposed to the culture of exploration.
When the RGS and the Royal Society, an independent scientific academy, decided in 1900 that Britain should fund a national Antarctic expedition of its own, Shackleton was ready. He immediately began a hard campaign to go.