What “The Universe Rewards” Means

At Merchant Mastery, we often say, "The Universe Rewards Adaptive Persistence." The phrase “The Universe Rewards” can be understood on two powerful levels. Metaphorically, “the Universe” represents the complex, dynamic systems of the material world—the market, your industry, your audience. But on a deeper, metaphysical level, it points to a responsive, intelligent force or consciousness that we can partner with. (You get to choose, or maybe it’s a combination of both.)

The saying means that these systems favour those who can navigate their complexity effectively. Success (the “reward”) doesn’t just come to those who work the hardest; it comes to those who work the smartest and are resilient enough to change course without abandoning the destination.

The Two Core Components

1. Persistence (The Engine)

This is the grit, the determination, and the unwavering commitment to a long-term goal. It’s the force that keeps you going through failure, rejection, and exhaustion. Without persistence, any significant obstacle would be enough to make you quit. It’s the fuel for any ambitious journey.

However, persistence alone can be a trap. If you are persistently trying to walk through a brick wall, you’ll only end up with a headache. You are expending energy without making progress. This is where the second component becomes critical.

2. Adaptation (The Steering Wheel)

This is the flexibility, the intelligence, and the willingness to learn and change your approach. It involves:

• Observing: Paying close attention to feedback and results.
• Learning: Analyzing what’s working and what isn’t.
• Pivoting: Changing your tactics, strategy, or even intermediate goals based on new information.

Adaptation is the crucial element that directs the energy of persistence. If persistence is the engine of a car, adaptation is the steering wheel, GPS, and the driver all in one. It ensures you’re not just moving, but moving in the right direction.

Putting It All Together: The Synthesis

Adaptive persistence is the powerful synthesis of these two ideas. It is the practice of holding a firm, unwavering vision while being completely flexible on the details of how to get there.

Here are some examples across different domains:

• Business: A startup founder’s vision is to revolutionize communication. Their first product, a social media app, fails to gain traction.

  • Blind Persistence: They keep pouring money into marketing the failed app, refusing to believe it’s the wrong approach.
  • Adaptive Persistence: They analyze user feedback and see that a specific feature—a team-based chat function—was incredibly popular with their few users. They persist with the vision of revolutionizing communication, but adapt their strategy by pivoting the entire company to focus on building that feature into a new product. (This is the origin story of Slack, which started as a gaming company.)

• Science: Thomas Edison wanted to create a commercially viable electric light bulb. He famously tested thousands of materials for the filament.

  • Blind Persistence: Trying the same carbonized bamboo fibre 10,000 times and expecting a different result.
  • Adaptive Persistence: Persisting in the goal of finding a long-lasting filament while adapting his experiment with every failure, systematically trying new materials based on what he learned from the previous one. Each failure provided data that guided the next attempt.

• Nature: Evolution itself is the ultimate example of adaptive persistence.

  • The “goal” of life is to persist and continue.
  • Species that cannot adapt to changing environments (e.g., climate change, new predators) go extinct.
  • Species that mutate and develop new traits (adapt) are the ones that survive and thrive. Life persists by constantly adapting.

In summary, the saying “The Universe Rewards Adaptive Persistence” is a guide to navigating life’s challenges. It advises us to be strong in our ultimate purpose but humble and intelligent in our methods. It is the balance between an iron will and an open mind.