Well – and here's the reminder that you may not be getting from other sources:
You don't have to keep digging in the same hole.
Set yourself a deadline for seeing action. "If I don't see something that actually is real movement forward by [arbitrarily short timeframe here], I'll go do something else."
This is the thing that keeps me from getting mired in things that are just not going to happen. It is easy to keep making excuses to stay with a project that you believe in. If the aim is good, you'll tell yourself, it's okay that it's not moving forward right now – I have faith that everything will turn out in the future because it's a good thing. That's almost never how it turns out.
So you have to push yourself, you have to put yourself in a position to be evaluating what you are engaged in, and the timeline has to be short enough that you're not just treading water until the next deadline comes by so you can convince yourself that things are going all right. Two weeks, a month – these the kind of horizons that really keep you trying to be honest with yourself.
And if you bail? That's fine. Nothing keeps you from grabbing a handful of like-minded people who want to work, which should be relatively clear at this point, going off and then actually doing something, doing it right from the ground up.
If you want to get stuff done, get stuff done. Find people who want to do things and go do them.
This is a real problem in a lot of online communities which have come together in order to drive some goal, but "some goal" is literally that – not a plan of action, not a proven project, but just a generalized, nebulous, "this would be better if" sort of thing. Everybody loves puppies, hates war, and wants things to be better.
Figuring out what the work is and communicating that so that people who are really interested in doing the work jump on board and people who aren't interested in doing the work but look forward to the achievement can stand by the side of the track and wave as you go by saves so much trouble. It literally is the difference between getting stuff done and people talking about getting stuff done.
So set your time horizon. Figure out something explicitly achievable that must happen within that time horizon. Then hold yourself to that decision. If it happens – great. Set another time horizon, pick another explicit action, and repeat. And don't be afraid to bail if it doesn't happen.
You only get so many hours of consciousness in a lifetime. It seems a terrible shame to throw so much around so wastefully when there's stuff to be done.
That's the way I think about it but as I understand it, opinions can differ.
Rarely do you run into a comment on Steemit that deals with topics of political nature like this that isnt filled with favor seeking, conformist, politically motivated bullshit.
Its refreshing....
I just want to add one thing that i think you kind of missed:
This was never a waste of time for her nor will it ever be regardless of the outcome..
She became a "Steemhold" name because of this..
Ive known her when she was a sweet girl posting pics of chickens on Steemit, now shes one of the biggest influencers on Steemit and a hardass that wont take any advice or criticism.
Im not saying that she is running this show for that reason,if she did do it for clout then im not half as good at judging character as i think i am, im just saying that she profited greatly from this endevour. Dont think for one moment that the foundation, even if it fails miserably, (which i think it will unless Ned gives them a million SP) isnt a win for everyone involved and a huge win for LL.
Thats what politics is. It doesnt matter if a project succeeds or fails, is it smart or stupid, what matters is the points that you count at the end.