Meet the Universe Half Way

Author Chuck Wendig posts advice to aspiring and professional writers on his blog TerribleMinds.com that applies to professionals in virtually end field. (The language over there is a bit on the naughty side, so consider yourself warned.)

Meet the universe halfway and the universe will meet you in return. Explained more completely: there exist components of any career (but writing in particular) that are well beyond your grasp. You cannot control everything. Some of it is just left to fate. But, you still have to put in the work. You won’t get struck by lightning if you don’t run out [in] the storm. You must maximize your chances. You do this by meeting the universe halfway. You do this by working.

That is excellent advice indeed for writers. It also works for painters, dancers, graphic designers, musicians and actors. It’s excellent advice for doctors and lawyers. It’s excellent advice for entrepreneurs. It’s excellent advice for just about anybody who wants to accomplish just about anything.

Including business leaders. And marketers.

There are some things that you just can’t control. They’re in the lap of the gods.

You can’t force customers to buy your products. You can’t force readers to share your social media posts. You can’t force a single person to bookmark your business site or add anything to their shopping cart.

You certainly can’t force Wall Street to respond favorably to your quarterly earnings report.

You can’t stop Apple from building a better smart phone or Microsoft from designing a better word processor. And if you’re Apple, you can’t stop Samsung from building a competitive smart phone, and if you’re Microsoft you can’t stop OpenOffice from creating a new version of the word processor it gives away for free on the Internet.

You can’t do any of those things.

But you can work your tail off and constantly strive to improve. And the universe (or the market, or the Internet, or the high tech industry, or whatever) really does have a way of responding to consistently applied competent effort over time.

Afraid that no one is even reading your copywriting, let alone following your calls to action? Bummed out that your business doesn’t have enough Facebook followers? Keep producing relevant engaging content that consists of more than just ads for your business, and do it week after week, month after month, and year after year. If you’re constantly getting better, the people who need to notice eventually will.

Worried that your marketing strategy feels too much like groping in the dark? Yeah, well, so does everyone else’s. It’s no different if you’re starting a business, writing a novel, or hoping to invent the bestest mouse trap ever in your basement. Break your strategy apart. Test it. Refine it. And break it apart and test it again. Never stop improving by increments and you’ll get somewhere.

Frustrated that the competition is eating your lunch this year? Throw everything you have, including the kitchen sink, into eating your competition for dinner next year and the year after that.

There are no guarantees in any endeavor, but if you meet the universe halfway with competence and persistence over time, your efforts eventually will be noticed, and they’ll be rewarded.