Have you ever had a goal, only to realize that if you had paid attention you've already attained it?
Almost two years ago, I was on a business trip in Ucluelet. It was in April of 2016 when I decided that I had enough of that freezing cold month in Quebec, bought a ticket and went to my favorite place on earth for 3 weeks.
Even though I was there, in one of the most beautiful places I knew, I felt lonely as hell. After working by the ocean in the lobby of a hotel, I would wander around feeling depressed and lonely.
Let's say I was not in the best of position in my life. I was almost 30, I was in debt, never owned a car and single. I had written my goals down but at that point, I didn't see how they could ever happen.
Here are 2 of the items that was on my list:
- I want to get married to a women who is graceful, has a moral compass, has family value, that put God first and that will inspire me to be the best version of myself.
- I want to be able to provide for my family. I want to give the option to my future wife to stay at home to raise the kids if she desire to do so. For that, I think I have to make at least 6 figures a year (we are taxed like hell here in Canada)
Needless to say, those 2 seemed unattainable from where I was at that point. But little did I know that I would meet my wife about a month later and get married 15 months later to the love of my life.
The second goal seemed even more impossible to attain. Yet few weeks later, a friend of mine brought me in the very early version of Steemit.com. Many people didn't believe that the first payout would ever happen on July 4th. But I blogged like a banshee to the point where I was the highest paid author (pending) for multiple weeks.
That's the funny things with goals...it's not like I was obsessed with them or anything. I just sat down, decided on what I wanted, wrote down on a piece of paper and went on with my life. Somehow...I was on auto-pilot toward my goals without realizing it.
Drawing An Income From Steem?
That was my big problem. I was afraid to ever touch my STEEM tokens. Why? Well, I was afraid to deal with the taxes associated with turning them into fiat to be honest.
I was "comfortable" with my income from my day job so I figured that I would not touch them and let them accumulate.
It was only this week that I realized that, if I wanted to, I could complement my current income so that I can achieve the goal of earning a 6 figure income. (Thank you SteemWorld!)
In the last 30 days, through curation alone I made 1,133.35 STEEMPOWER. In Canadian dollars that means $2,778.64 CAD per month in somewhat passive income. Add in the authors rewards and that's around 1557.49 STEEM or $3,807.36 CAD per month.
This means that without touching my principle, I could add an extra $45,688.32 to my income per year. Until this week, I never realized that. 2018 will be the year where I finally reach my goal...just in time for the baby :-)
When Should YOU Draw an Income From Steem?
First thing, would be to determine you goal. Are you happy with your work? Do you want to have additional income or are you saving for retirement?
I can only speak for those who wants an income. But all goals are valid at different times in your life.
What you want is enough STEEMPOWER to make a steady flow of STEEM coming from curation. With more STEEMPOWER also comes more visibility and better author's rewards over time if you create good content.
Keep an eye on your steemworld account and look at how much you made in the past 30 days. That will give you an idea of what you could touch without affecting your principle.
You should start drawing an income when:
- You know how to deal with the tax ramification of doing so.
- You like the amount of principle you have in order to benefit from the rise in the price of STEEM.
- You've attained the income level that you would like.
Conclusion
Goals are important. We are goal directed beings and without a clear idea of where you would like to be, it's very difficult to get there. Does it mean it will happen fast? No. Does it mean it will happen exactly as you though it would? No. Does it mean you will ever attain at all? Maybe.
But what matter the most is that we are most fulfilled in life when we are in the active pursuit of a worthy goal and that we are making noticable progress towards it.
You'll realize that if you ever attain the goal you've set for yourself, you'll have to set another one for you to pursue...otherwise, you'll stagnate and get stuck like I did in the past after reaching a major milestone.
PS: I highly recommended the future authoring program of Jordan Peterson. It's fantastic for serious goal setting.
Very powerful post, touched me on so many levels though in a way my circumstances are not the exact same with yours, but I am in a time of my life where my decisions will have full impact in my future. Some days are good, some days not so much, but all in all, I keep taking baby steps, that I hope will lead to giant milestones in the future, thanks for the tips, they are fully appreciated.
If some other person narrate this story to me, I wouldn't believe in a million years, truly you are a inspiration to us all and am thankful I was able to read this post today.
I consider myself a heavy traveler. Last year I have visited 13 countries and countless cities while having a 09:00 - 18:00 office job, developing software.
This job makes those trips possible. However, at some point, I would like to get a passive income like you and just work on what I want to work. (Blockchain, steem related projects, non-profit organizations, etc.)
I have already some examples which you can basicly work remote and travel at the same time on our industry. While this is also possible, I find it hard to do managing it.
Thanks for the inspring post. :)
Damn, 13 countries in one year while having a 9 - 18 office job? That's pretty impressive. How did you manage to do that? How long were your trips?
Flights
I am an early bird for buying tickets. I always get cheap prices with low-cost airlines. I also have a good credit card (reward program) with that airline, basically 3-4 flights in a year are free for me.
Hotels
I am in the tourism industry, working intensively with other B2B hotel providers. That gives an extra to get cheap deals or compensational stays.
Time
I don't have huge vacations. I use my day-offs on Fridays or Mondays which gives me 3 days of travel time. Generally moving around Europe, so flight times allow me to do that.
If the flight time bigger than ~4 hours, then I will stay in that country longer. Spending a huge portion of my yearly vacation is not sustainable so that's one or two in a year. Lately, I have been in Thailand and it was 9 days.
Other expenses
I don't eat at luxury restaurants. (Exceptions: cheap countries like Ukraine, Hungary etc.) Even I buy sandwiches from supermarkets on lunch.
I don't pay anything to museums. Not really a cultural guy, therefore, I don't spend any time or money on museums.
I walk! I never use taxis. (If it's not a business trip and can't expense it.) If I can't go where I headed on foot, I prefer subways, buses. Also, in some countries (Netherlands for example) I rent bicycles to move around.
Everyone can do these things actually. You just need to follow promotions and give up luxury. :)
For some reason a 9-18 job sounds much worse than a 9-6 job.
Congratulations on reaching your goals man, I've recently more accurately defined the goal that I am aiming for with crypto and am hoping I can achieve it one day. Having a clear idea of what you want helps and is very personal to each persons life scenario and desires
Steem is the power ;)
Excellent Stats! Good luck...
Great story.
Thank you for sharing!
Oh wow, you're making a great income here, congrats! Not many people are able to do that, but I'm sure most of us aspire to do so at some point in the future.
This, for me, is the biggest unknown right now. I have no clue how to work with taxes combined with crypto and I'm not sure our Dutch IRS knows either. I'm not earning near enough to make a good income here anyway, but I still make a nice amount and I've turned a bit into euros. I don't know how to even start with taxes for this though, so I'm not using serious money from my Steemit earnings yet.
Thank you so much for sharing your story. Your curation support has been a tremendous motivational push for me to strive to produce quality content. I have posted every single day for... actually I haven't been counting, but several months at least.
It has been a pleasure to be one of those who swim in your wake as you navigate our steem ocean. Your success is our success, thanks and congratulations on all your success!
:-) @roused
@cryptoctopus' wake is the best wake to swim in:)
Today marks my first month as a Steemian and all I can say is this post should come before the introduction on the Steemit welcome page.
Everyone should be striving for passive income but it’s almost impossible to acquire assets that produce passive income when you’re living paycheck to paycheck. Steemit provides a simple way to do that and your success proves it.
Besides the importance of setting goals, there are two things people really need to understand from your post:
You may also consider that assets can be borrowed against (to avoid taxation) or insured through the use of options and futures. These instruments may not be as readily available as they are in real estate and stocks but as cryptocurrencies become more popular they will be commonplace. (Bitcoin futures are about to go live)
Thanks for this very important post.
Great story. Thanks for sharing.
wow, so steemit changed your life. i wonder how long is this gonna take for me to hit a big amount of sp
Probably faster than you think;)
i hope so
Keep blogging for atleast a year .. and post quality contents
thank you for the advice
Excellent achievement! You have once again proved the importance of having a goal in life and a desire to go to this goal! To dream it is how to live! And never think that dreams do not come true. They become our goal, desire for something, desire. Even if we have to wait a long time, do not think that it is in vain. Strong people have dreams come true. You just need to be able to wait! Thank you @cryptoctopus
The main thing to remember is that in achieving big and small goals you have little to do except yourself ... A person with faith and the presence of the spirit wins even in the most difficult enterprises. The main desire, everything depends on us.
I'm excited to hear you have accomplished your goals, even if you didn't quite realize it! My personal goal for the past year has been to be able to live off last months income, and while I haven't quite gotten there yet, I've made some great strides this year, and only expect to do better from here on out!
Here's to 2018, may the milestones come faster and faster to all our long term goals!
Thank you for your inspiring post. :) I will certainly look into Jordan Peterson's goal-setting program. More power and congratulations on the baby!
I have a goal and a great hope about steemit. In addition to steemit I can pay my college bills every semester, after which my dream I can finance my life. and later when I marry the fees I am collecting from steemit, I will make a special vidio with the title "My education, my home, and my marriage is supported by the steemit community of the world". A kind of documentary about the steemit community that helps with my current financial problems. steemit like a symbiotic mutualism, if all members in steemit have the same assumption without any personal ego.
i m happy to join this platfarm and i get many benefits income and knowledge its good to advise and tips some of us and others my goal is to make some work and earen money from my daugther future and i earen money from steem from 5 months and now i really think to increase my power to get more benefits from steemti @cryptoctopus
Well Said Dear, Setting a goal in your life is much important. Once you set a goal then you have the plan to archive that goal.
Lovely couple, God bless.
Thanks.
You are so right, bro. Am going to take it like a job....only that i am so going to enjoy this particular job...haha. 2018 is going to be awesome year.HAPPY STEEM YEAR IN ADVANCE.
My goal is to make enough to fund my other Cryptocurrency investments and maybe build a decent mining rig.
#goals. Yes I plan to brush up and blog like a banshee also. Glad it’s workig for you. All I have is steem power. I wanna get to 100,000 as a goal. I have a loooong way. Cheers tho.
Very motivational for a newish steemian such as myself, Thanks! #stemian #steemon #future #invest #cryptocurrency
Hey, never new you were from Canada! And congrats on reaching your goals, marriage and the family to come!
@cryptoctopus,
Exactly what you said is absolutely correct! We should keep goals and we should archive them! You made nice figures there and congratulations for the success you made so far! This is an inspirational article for most of new joiners to the platform! So, future is so bright and I wish you and you family have a great and very successful year ahead!
Cheers~
I have a purpose - to buy a house by the sea. But so far my income does not allow this: (
I wish you the best of luck:) Post a house tour when you reach your goal;)
Thanks for sharing this information. My goal here on steemit at first is to earn a few money because I was enticed on what I saw in the stories here. But as the days go by using this platform my goals changed. I just to be a better version of myself through the help of this site.
Thank you telling us this!!
It’s inspiring to see how can someone change their life for the better in such a short amount of time.
Good luck to you!
congrats to make a good digit of income from steem i have a small business of salt lamps there for i dont give time to steemit some more but hope i give more time and my attention and invest some good in steem man
You should write about your business!:)
This is highly inspirational.
I am well informed now. Steem is really a long term platform.
Definetly going to be succesful
Thank you for this very informative post... I am working on teaching web development and using STEEM to support me and provide resources for my class... Up to this point it has been difficult to get any real consistent traction on my posts, but this is motivation!...
wow.. so inspiring! Happy marriage life ..
you are a very purposeful person and it pleases ... I agree with you, every person should have a goal, without this in any way ... at the moment, critotypes are an excellent option for investing and multiplying capital, this is a trend that is only gaining momentum
I can't say that my Steem could be used as steady income, or even a lump sum to go travel or save in fiat for a house (goals I have).
But my crypto portfolio is definitely something I am interesting in taking out. The tax situation is the issue I'm trying to figure out at this time.
Definitely a goal for 2018.
PS: Jordan Peterson is excellent. His Youtube lectures are pure gold.
But just imagine if Steem price increases steadily in the future... I imagine a lot of small scale Steemit users will come to realize in a few years that their earnings are worth way more than they are now.
Definetly .. its prices are already increasing
Hi @cryptoctopus, i like your positivity and i'm happy that you had success in your goals.. your son/daughter will complete your life.
But we have to be practical and realistic.. the way to profit now are two:
Otherwise steemit could be an interesting investment but not the only source of income.
How about both?;)
It would be even better.. ;-)
your post well, you discuss the importance of issues of money. Money helps to in our lives. excellent moment of your post images. thanks #cryptoctopus
It's so inspiring to read your story.
Definitely more determined to buying more steem power and moving towards my goal.
wow, thats great. am impressed.
Wow execellent post bro.thanks for sharing.resteem it.
That's so cute and inspiring! Hope all your dreams come true.
Awesome!
romantic couple
My main problem with growing my account is the desire to cash out my current gains rather than invest in SP. I think the three year payout thing is what scares me the most. I'm worried that the market will crash and I'll be stuck with a useless currency.
What made decide to believe in Steemit as a good long term investment?
PS: I finally got around to listening to Jordan Peterson for the first time. I really liked what he had to say but I'm a little skeptical of any online self help type of program that you have to pay for. What was your experience like?
Actually, it's 13 weeks with 1 payment per week (not three years). It's for sure a bet and you shouldn't invest in something you don't really grasp and believe in. Otherwise, it's easy to panic sell. (at one point, Steem was worth $0.10)
SP helped me curb my desire to panic sell and also helped me be a good hodler.
Overall, I believe in STEEM because it solves a problem for the content internet. It's far from perfect but i've seen it getting better and better. It's also the highest performing blockchain: (check www.blocktivity.info) and the website has about 35 million pageviews per month.
I have a hard time believing that the value can go to zero at this point and how it can't keep growing...especially with the incoming Smart Media Tokens. Call me up @jrue if you ever want to chat about it :-)
As for Jordan's program...it's a directed writing program, so technically, you could do it all by hand but I found that using his software help direct it better. I've done a lot of self help stuff in the past and I must say, writing has been the best to sort myself out. It's cheap too I think...like $10. Me and Annie did a week-end retreat to plan our future and that was exactly what we needed to plan our future together.
That's good to know. I'm not sure where I got the 3 years thing from! 13 weeks is much more reasonable.
I probably will take you up on the offer to chat (maybe once my finals are done). I have a project idea that I want to get your thoughts on.
we are seeing each other for Christmas right?
Yep.
It used to be two years (109 weeks) before a hardfork changed it to 13 weeks, so that might be where you got it from ;)
Yeah I think that's what confused me.
Everyone has a goal to achieve in his life. I think a person without any goal is just wasting his valuable time. You are so enthusiastic. At an age of 30 you have gained a lot that is all because of your persistent hardwork, thanks for the inspiration. Good luck for your goals.
You are the very example why so many steemians are using this portal. The fact that you are actually doing it is what will motivates others like myself to work harder to achieving the same success.
It is wonderful to hear you are achieving both your goals and I am assuming living life to the fullest. Thanks for opening up in regards to your steem work and amazing that you can curate that much rewards in a month. Best to your continue success.
Setting a goal is a MUST for us to be able to know which direction we are heading. We should strategize on how to meet our goals. May it be a simple goal of getting 10 SBD. We need to know what we have to do, how to do it and when to do it.
Thank you so much @cryptoctopus for always sharing wonderful post. Resteemed!
Interesting as they fulfilled their two goals to marry and have to support their family, today I will make and ask the universe my goals, I want to share here: The first: Have my own home to give to my parents and siblings, second: Have my own self and third : Find My average orange this 2018.
I gotta say, you are one of the guys that made me see the true potential of Steem.
What actually drew me in here is the possibility to have an easy space and with a lot of potential public to read what i write.
What i observed in life is that in the end, the people that get sucess (the good kind of sucess) are the ones that end up doing what they enjoy.
The greatest names i admire in the end got where they are today because they had passion for what they were doing. The money and the sucess were not their main objective.
These days you can still see some people coming around with big ideas that will get big, and as collateral, they will make a lot of money (the one that came to my mind right now is the Creator of the Ethereum Protocol)
Very motivating story. And most importantly motivating not on the momentary breakthrough, and long-term planning and persistence, based on specific goals.