Photo by Sylwia Bartyzel on Unsplash
Most people have never had the experience of spending their entire lives working on projects they are passionate about, but that no one will ever see.
One of the most influential moments of my adult life came at a time that I was least inspecting it.
I was walking around a Border’s book store with my brother, back when Borders was still a thing. We were browsing the different sections and at one point my brother stopped, pulled a book from the shelf and asked me to read the opening paragraph. This paragraph was about a third of a page long, but can be summarised as follows:
Life is difficult. The sooner you accept this, the easier it will become.
This pithy little statement has stayed with my ever since. Life is hard! The world doesn’t owe you any favours, most people don’t really care about you, and as often as not, things will not go the way you had hoped they would go. There is a natural human tendency in these situations to adopt a victim mentality.
Life is not fair!
Things shouldn’t be this way!
At the end of the day though, life isn’t fair, and things are the way they are. Wallowing in self-pity doesn’t change this. Regardless of how much you rail against your predicament; the reality is that the world still doesn’t care about you, nor does it owe you much. The only people who do care are yourself, and hopefully your family and friends, if you are fortunate enough to have good people in your life.
It's my opinion that the only way to deal with the above situation is to accept it for what it is. Realise that the cards aren’t always going to fall your way, and just do the best you can. Just keep living in other words. This isn't intended as some cute little self help sentiment. It's reality. You can only change the things you can control, and you cant control the rest of the world. All you can controls is yourself, your actions and your perspective.
This analogy is equally applicable to Steemit.
I read a post a few days ago by another author. It was creatively titled “Running Out of Steam.” It detailed the frustrations of the author at how little success they were finding in getting recognition for their work. There was a lot I could empathise with in what she had to say, and a lot of experiences that she described that I could relate to. We’ve all had the experience of pouring our heart and soul into a post and then seeing that no one it reads. It can be heart breaking. At the same time though there was something about her post that really bothered me.
My Steemit journey started out like most others. Here was an opportunity to turn my hand to writing, which is something I enjoy, and at the same time earn some rewards for doing so. I’ve got a lot of strong opinions on a lot of different issues, and here was my opportunity to put those opinions out there and hopefully connect with people in a positive way through writing.
So, I posted my introduce yourself post and almost no one read it. I next put up my first real post, which dealt with some of the vagaries of the bitcoin market, and it earned $0.27. I kept working and after a few weeks I was able to write a post that would get 7-10 views if I was lucky. I too ran out of Steam and I left the platform for a couple of months.
My “Borders moment” with Steemit came not long before Christmas when I was lurking in a discord chat group watching a discussion unfold. It was at this point that @ryivhnn made the comment that I quoted at the start of this post. I can’t remember her exact words, so hopefully Ryi will forgive me, but I think this captures the essence of it:
Most people have never had the experience of spending their entire lives working on projects they are passionate about but that no one will ever see
Rhyvinn is an artist who spends her days doing all sorts of artsy thing with computer graphics that I don’t even pretend to understand. She’s pretty good at what she does. She makes enough money from her work, both on Steemit and other ways to help support her family, and she spends her days doing something that she loves.
Her point though, at least as I understood it, was that anyone who has dedicated their life to any sort of creative pursuit has most likely experienced a lifetime of rejection. Musicians write songs that no one will ever listen too. Artists paint beautiful pictures that no one will ever see. Authors write stories that no one will ever read. For every Lady Gaga, John Grisham and Brett Whitely, there are literally tens of thousands of artists that produce amazing works that never see the light of day. This is the life of many who dedicate themselves to these types of activities.
Is it fair? Hell no!!! Is it reality? Yes, it is.
It’s not uncommon to hear a newly successful author or musician interviewed about their recent work and be asked some version of the same question:
How does it feel to have burst onto the scene and become such an over night success?
To which the answer is almost always:
I don't consider myself to be an overnight success. I've been working at this for years. This is just the first time anyone has noticed.
Being involved in the conversation I described above was a wake-up moment for me. It made me realise the mistake I had made in my approach to the whole Steemit experience. If I am being brutally honest, the arrogance of expecting to simply create an account and have everyone love what I write is almost breath taking. Why should I expect to be an instant success when there are literally hundreds of thousands of other aghunter’s out there all trying to do the same thing?
Steemit is hard! It’s also my opinion that it’s getting harder. Every new addition to the platform is another content creator that you are competing against for attention. It’s getting harder and harder to get your work noticed. You have a few choices you can make. You can get upset by this and let it frustrate you as each piece of work continues to get less attention than you feel it deserves. You can give up. Or you can accept it for what it is, keep working hard and gradually build your profile. Its completely up to you, but you need to understand that whatever choice you make, Steemit still won't care. The platform owes you nothing and the reality of the daily grind will not change. The only thing you can change is your attitude to it all.
One thing I don’t want this post to be though is a lecture to new comers. There are a lot of successful Steemians who have written posts in the past stating words to the effect of
‘Stop whinging, I did it hard, so you should do it hard too if you want to make it’
These posts really annoy me. There are some real problems with the platform. It’s my opinion that its getting really hard for people to get good quality content noticed, and it gets harder every day. There are a whole host of reasons for this that are will beyond the scope of this post. Eventually I think some of these problems have the potential to significantly effect the long-term success of Steemit as a platform. I’m hopeful that someone, somewhere is working to address some of these issues.
The fact remains however, that someone who joins Steemit today must work a lot harder to achieve success than someone who joined 12 months ago. Someone who joins in six months from now will find it even harder still. That is the reality of the system that we are working with though. So, I’m not saying. “you need to work hard like me!” If you are new to the platform, then you need to work harder than I did. That’s the unfortunate facts of the situation as it stands.
Is it fair? No. Is it reality? Yes, it is. You can either accept it and crack on, or you can run out of steam and leave. Just don't get caught up in the pity cycle. You chose to be here remember. To paraphrase a common saying from another setting
You joined Steemit, Steemit didn’t join you!
The system isn’t going to change to suit you.
I have to include the compulsory paragraph about how to succeed on Steemit. You can take these or leave them, but this has what has worked for me.
- Post regularly. Preferably every day, but if you can’t manage that then at least 3-4 times a week
- Post original content. This should go without saying.
- Pay attention to your formatting. Markdown is also difficult to master, but there are tools out there to help you. This stuff really matters. I know that I personally won’t even read a post if its not well presented. It’s hard to read something that is a single block of text. The easier you can make a post to read, the more likely it is that your audience will read it. Use headings, bullet points, block quotes, whatever is appropriate to what you are writing. I use a web app called Stackedit to help me format my posts. It can take the pain out of markdown.
- Use attractive and interesting pictures. Blocks of text won’t make someone want to open your post, but a cool picture might attract someone’s attention.
- Reference your sources and images. You shouldn’t expect credit for your own work if you aren’t willing to extend credit to others who have helped you put it together.
- Get involved in a community. I’ve left this for last for emphasis, but it’s possibly the most important one. The quickest way to get yourself noticed is to make friends on the platform. They can help in so many ways. There are more communities than I can list here but some of my favourites are shown below.
Minnowsupportgroup. This should be the first stop for any new account on Steemit.
Qurator. Another group helping minnows to get their posts noticed.
Steemiteducation Great if you like posting about educational topics. Particularly good if you’re a teacher, but useful for the rest of us too.
SteemStem. A group dedicated to promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics on Steemit.
Given I think networking is key to success on this platform I want to end by giving a shout out to some people who have helped me get to where I am in my Steemit journey. These are either people who have helped me directly, or who run great accounts that I think are worthy of more attention.
I’ll start with @ausbitbank. He’s my whale. He probably doesn’t realise this, but he’s the only whale I know so I’m claiming him 😊 He follows my account and occasionally upvotes my posts, which I am very grateful for. More importantly though, he’s made himself available a couple of times to help me out by answering some newbie questions and give me a bit of guidance when I needed it. He’s also a witness who I know works hard to make the system better for all of us. So, if you’ve wondering who to direct your witness votes too, you should definitely check him out. He doesn’t do a lot of self-promotion, but he’s doing a lot all the same.
Next is @gohba. I’ll be honest and say that I think Gohba and I are a bit like chalk and cheese. If we ever got onto a serious conversation about politics, it would probably end in a pub fight. That said, he’s one of the leading figures in the Team Australia community and does a lot of work to bring us all together within that community.
@crimsonclad is another witness that I think is worthy of support. She seems to be pretty much everywhere on Steemit. She doesn't post all that often but seems to be in about 2 dozen community projects and is very open to helping others along their Steemit journey.
@emmanuel250998 is a young guy from I don’t really know where. What I do know is that he translates a lot of foreign language journalism into English, which means I can read it. He doesn’t produce a lot of original stuff, but in a world where quality information about Crypto currencies is hard to come by, he takes material I otherwise wouldn’t know about and translates it to a format that I can read. This is a valuable service for me.
@terrylovejoy is a guy who crazy about astronomy. He puts out some cool stuff through his feed and provides some helpful tip on how to improve your photography and the presentation of your posts.
@tarc is a not for profit account that supports a shelter for abandoned animals in the US. If you love animals check them out. They’ve taken on a big job and could do with all the help they could get!
@just2random and @aussieninja have helped with advice around how to make some of posts more appealing to a wider audience.
@choogirl who got me noticed by curie. She’s an Aussie living in Panama. As best I can tell she spends most of her time at the gym and in Discord! I know she also spends a lot of time working to promote quality content and find promising new authors.
@abigail-dantes posts about psychology which is a passion of mine. Check her out! Her posts are amazing.
@trudeehunter. Trudee is one of those sickening people who has achieved overnight success. She’s been on Steemit about 5 minutes and has already won four of @juliank’s photo contests. And by overnight success I mean she’s been taking beautiful photo’s for years and has only recently discovered Steemit as a means to share them 😊. She takes some amazing photo’s. You should check her out.
I saw this post come in @aghunter and I recognised your tag name. I have enjoyed getting to know you a little over the past month, and that alone made me pause to take a closer look at what you had written. And then your heading grabbed my attention because I do acknowledge that yes, Steemit IS difficult and I have felt overwhelmed at trying to absorb all the necessary information required to make the most out of this great platform. I have saved so many posts into my ever widening 'too hard' basket to re-read at a later date that I fear my computer is going to suffer from indigestion. Every single one of the articles I have saved contains vital and relevant information but due to not being able absorb info the way I used to, I have to concentrate in bite sized pieces. @aghunter, you have managed to produce such a wonderfully positive post out of a negative subject whilst providing pure gold with your information that I knew as I was reading it that if I don't resteem this post I will definitely have to save it because I need all those contacts you have supplied and I know I'll need to keep them handy to inspire myself when I'm lacking motivation. Key factors I have to work on is learning how to master the Markdown Styling Guide. I keep going back to it after admiring professional looking posts and know I want to present my blogs like they do but, at this stage, it still looks like a foreign language to me. (: Hopefully I can find someone I can sit down with so that they can show me how to use it. Secondly, I know I need to overcome my self imposed insecurity about connecting in the wonderful communities that are available. Thank you @aghunter for writing this post and for the very kind honour of mentioning me at the end of this post. It is so very encouraging and it means such a lot to me. If any of the @teamaustralia group read this, I'd like to say a big thank you for the wonderful support you have been giving me. Hopefully, one day soon I will be able to return the favour when I know how best I can do that. Frankly, I still don't fully understand the role of witnesses, and bots, and the subject of cryptocurrency is at the very bottom of my 'too hard basket' but that doesn't stop me from doing what I love; i.e., interacting with a wonderful group of people from all over the world and sharing photos, art work and indulging in a little writing here and there.......all of which satiates my creative urges and fulfils me in my old age. Hugs and blessings @aghunter.......not just because we share the same surname but because you have taken the time to recognize fellow steemians in such a thoughtful and caring manner. Thank You! xx
Great word's @trudeehunter (from a fellow teamaustralian)
Thank you kindly @terrylovejoy Very nice to meet you.
Thanks for the shoutout and also for having to tell me I was in this post :-|
And this is what community is for.
Though this post is about the hardship of steemit, I've found it one of the most inspirational post I've ever come across. Mostly for you've told the truth in a wonderful way.
Thank you @tamurah that’s quite the compliment!
You are most welcome @aghunter :)
Lol! I do spend a lot of time at the gym or in Discord!
Yes, life is harder so every aspect of life will be harder, but just think if you will get everything for free without any effort then how you will get the sense of achievement and i think you read that book at the right time because still those words are with you in your journey. I will just give an example, and this is applicable to me also, if we are moving towards frustration because of non recognition then just think about your actions, can you check posts of all Steemians, answer is no, so right thing is, post everyday with quality and original content and then have an healthy conversations with other Steemians and this will slowly buildup your profiles and inturn followers and once you have followers it can possible that your post will be recognised effectively. So at last i want highlight your point that, you have joined Steemit, Steemit doesn't joined you, so it's your decision so you have to workout on it. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Stay Blessed.
Thanks @chireerocks and thanks for your continued support of my posts!
Welcome. 🙂
In your introduction, you're actually talking about one out of three important aspects of acceptance:
The fact is that life is not perfect, just, nor predictable; we can only accept that and be curious about the future. We will not win the war against the uncertainty by becoming certain, instead we find stability by embracing uncertainty and telling the universe "bring it on".
"This is just the first time anyone has noticed." - Yeah, Steemit is, like music or painting, a lot about luck - if you provide quality, at some point you will get noticed and supported by a dolphin or a whale, just like talented artists usually sooner or later get discovered by a talent scout or an influencer. Of course, you can vastly increase your chances here by commenting on other people's posts, just like an artists can help get him noticed through marketing.
Cheers! : )
Is them some Buddhism or other eastern philosophy in your background @lifenbeauty?
Not really - my background is actually in Organizational Sciences; philosophy and psychology are a hobby of mine. : )
Thanks for the mention @aghunter, that means a lot! I think I came across you either via teamaustralia or your posts on Australian taxation and crypto's (which are excellent btw).
Beep! Beep! This humvee will be patrolling by and assisting new veterans, retirees, and military members here on Steem. @shadow3scalpel will help by upvoting posts from a list of members maintained by @chairborne and responding to any questions replied to this comment.
Dude!
Thanks for the shout out man, I super appreciate it.
My partner has been a musician her entire life, and so I've seen first-hand how hard it can be to spend all your time on projects that don't yield any sort of financial reward... but that's not actually the only form of payment.
I see this sort of work as a system. You get to practice a skill you feel is important, you make connections and friendships, you're bravely putting your work out into the world where anyone can find it at any time and you're filling your life with something meaningful to you.
It's super hard to make money on Steem, it's super hard to make money as a musician or as anything creative, but that doesn't mean it's not worth the effort....
Morbidly, I'd rather spend my last deathbed-y moments thinking about everything I created instead of everything I consumed.
Great post man!
Well said @aussieninja
great the whole point ae clearly describe and following that we will be succes in steemit! use original is more and more important! yaah we have join steemit not steemit join us! i am motivated aghunter!
I have not read a truer post on this platform!
I think (and I may be wrong) most people that complain on steemit and about Steemit not been fair are those that need to enrol to "school of hard knocks". Nobody and life in gebral owes nobody anything. You want something? You have to stand up and get like anyone else making it.
I chose to roll up my sleeves on steemit because I have seen how harder it can be in the real world.
What anyone needs to succeed to succeed on steemit is to keep on steeming, research, see and do what successful steemians are doing and build bridges. Keep making yourself and your contents better.
I believe it is easier to make it than the real world out there.
Thank you @aghunter, I will not only resteem this but bookmark it.
yes, the sooner you engage with this community, you will learn quicker more than you think.
Yup its true ☺
Thanks for posting this.
True, Steemit is hard. Not everyone gets $15000 on their introduction post lol.
Quality content is difficult to define. It all depends on the audience available and for me my audience is not fully available on Steemit yet, I need to work on it.
A meaningful writing and a passion for doing something in life. Sometimes it feels to face what we dream. We know exactly what we want to do, but there are always "barriers" that never seem to end. So much competition - there may be millions of people trying to get what you do and what you do what you dream.
How to get out of that competition?
What is the fastest way to get your dreams to be perfect?
Besides, we have the cost of living we have to pay for our responsibility.We have limited time every thing.After coming home from work we usually know what we should do but translate we easily tell ourselves to postpone until tomorrow. the same, there are many people who work hard to try to bring them closer.
This is so we tekadang discouraged.There is so much to learn.Sangat easy to degrade ourselves ability.May we have to give up and accept our life only. Actually the competition is very difficult to pass. Actually our competitors face the same problems and challenges we face. Likes to stop and give up long before they start - always be a person who often open and negative thinking.
Thanks for sharing ...
I love your post am still a new steemit but have really learn that to be successful here it take a lot of time and patience to get notice
meaningful writing and a passion for doing something in life
a very good post, and make interested sata read it.
beautiful scenery, and the post was very interesting to read
absolutely right !!
to those people making a lot of money here on steemit, steemit is a god for them. They must respect this platform.
I knew what I was signing up for when I registered for Steemit. I prepared myself mentally for weeks. I was actually terrified when I posted for the first time. I have been focusing on getting used to the website and commenting and meeting new people. I have never written content before! Markdown has definitely been an adjustment for me, I have no idea what I am doing and just trying to wing it as best I can. I had not heard of Stackedit so I will look into it, thank you for the tip!
Very interesting point of view. I can agree with You that it is really difficult for newbies like me. There is a lot of different quality content and it's really hard to be noticed. I know that I need to spend a lot of time to have some attention but for now any attention gives me positive kick. So I don't give up:)
good post
Great post and one I hope to look back on when I feel the motivation start to dip myself. I've only been here a couple of days and just making a couple small posts really makes you think how much valuable time and knowledge has already been expressed here on steemit. It's impossible for all of it to be recognised equally. I think the important thing is that people post something that they can be proud of themselves, that way it's value is never truly lost. Thank you for the reminder.
I like your post @aghunter and the post was very interesting to read
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Your words touched my heart @aghunter. It really did. Steemit is also difficult same with life. When I first started to post in this platform I hardly had any earnings and even views. It was depressing. So when I got frustrated even more I told myself that I will just continue to write though no one would appreciate it. As long as I'm doing the thing that I love then nothing else matters. I'm lucky that @abigail-dantes noticed me and always sends me love and support with my blogs about psychology.
As quoted above:
Instead of sulking that the platform is tough and difficult. Let's just do our best and show to the world what we got. Acceptance and moving forward are valuable elements to be happy in life.
Hi @aghunter. I am inspired after reading ‘@just2random is Leaving Steemit and This is a Real Problem’ and this post. You have elegantly captured the reality of real life and Steemit life. I especially like your statement about how we can only change the things we control and should accept the things that are not in our control.
I love how you dedicated the last section of this post to recognize those you have helped you or impacted your Steemit journey. No one can succeed alone on Steemit or in life. I believe that what you give unselfishly will somehow find its way back to you.
It is sad that your good friend is leaving the platform. I am meeting more and more people who recognize this issue and are taking action to support the newbie community to learn, grow, and get exposure. The only way that Steemit can continue to grow is if more rewards and attention are dedicated to promoting the good content of the new users.
I like your honest and un-sugar coated writing style. I could take a stance of “why should I even try when it’s too hard to succeed on Steemit” or chose to outsmart this challenge and present my own flavor. I may or may not find success, if I can say “I left it all on the field”, then I can walk away without regrets.
You have earned my respect and my attention. I look forwards to more amazing content from you. Thank you for sharing.
Best regards,
Mello