Ever since I discovered Steemit, I've noticed a significant spike in my creative energy.
It's like something changed within me and I'm now super motivated just about every day to create, connect with others, and share my stories and life adventures.
Yeah sure, the money aspect does help... but the community aspects help oh so much more.
My creative process wasn't always as enjoyable as it is today, especially during my very first few weeks on here.
I remember the time when I put a ton of time and effort into posts that just went absolutely nowhere.
It was like the words I wrote on paper were being immediately disposed in a void of nothingness where they would surely never be discovered again!
That was really difficult to accept.
It was even more difficult to accept that my current approach wasn't working.
I really just felt like I was constantly failing and that my content and ideas didn't matter.
I officially started using Steemit in October and it wasn't until early December that I found my footing here.
Interestingly enough, it's now the end of January and as I look at who I am now compared to back then, I'm starting to realize that the struggle I had early on served me tremendously.
Here's my simple truth:
If I would have found success early on, I likely would not be the person I am today.
I think this concept does not just apply to Steemit, but to life in general.
Delayed success is often a very good thing, yet it is not celebrated at all.
I mean who would celebrate NOT succeeding?
It kind of sounds like a weird way to approach life.
But I'm here to tell you that it is the BEST way to approach it...
As it is a sure fire way to achieve anything that you truly desire.
With that being said, here's my four reasons for WHY I believe in the value of NOT succeeding early on...
1. You Become A True Adventurer
I was born and raised in Wisconsin and in that state, they're all about beer, cheese, and... of course... the Green Bay Packers.
I was born and raised in Wisconsin and in that state, they're all about beer, cheese, and... of course... the Green Bay Packers.
While I'm very well versed in the beer and cheese departments, I've actually never gone to a Green Bay Packers game.
This is odd considering they're such a big deal in our state and the fact that I've lived there for most of my life.
I just never got around to actually going to a game...
Have you ever lived somewhere for a long time and missed out on an obvious experience that was available to you?
Or here's another situation...
Have you ever been hanging out with a best friend (the one who you thought you knew everything about) when suddenly he or she reveals something about him/herself that you cannot believe you are just hearing for the first time?
These situations are common phenomenon. When we get comfortable, we tend to become less adventurous.
Especially when we think we already know all about a particular place, thing, or person...
For whatever reason, the adventure seems to halt.
However, when you put yourself somewhere new (such as Steemit or maybe even a new country) you are essentially required to go on an adventure.
Why?
Because you haven't succeeded in finding a new sense of comfort yet!
Or even better, you haven't succeeded in getting what you came for... which is often experience.
More often than not, the less success you have, the more life pushes you to explore new boundaries of life!
And new boundaries = new adventures!
2. You Become A Mogul Of Motivation
Have you ever been completely and utterly broke?
Yes? No?
Well I have, and man does that suck!
But what doesn't suck is the incredible amount of motivation that is inspired from it!
I've actually been broke a few times in my life now...
Each time I can honestly say that I experienced incredible depths of myself that I absolutely would not have ever experienced had I not been broke!
My creativity launched into full force when I was broke.
I faced and overcame a huge amount of fears when I was broke.
The life that I was living changed tremendously (for the better) when I was broke!
And what is broke synonymous with?
It's synonymous with the concept of NOT succeeding.
My lack of success was what motivated me to success.
I didn't have a reason to move until life kicked in and gave me a reason.
Suddenly I was experiencing this new exciting reality game called stay alive and as much as it's scary, it can actually be quite a fun ride!
Lack of success is simply the best motivation for success.
3. You Discover What You Weren't Looking For
How often do we discover the things that we truly desire along the journey of searching for what we think we desire?
I would say this happens to me... quite a lot!
A few years back I was living with my girlfriend at the time and we decided to go on a road trip...
This wasn't just any old road trip though.
I was borderline broke and she had just quit a job that she could no longer stand working at.
We decided to go on a road trip as a reason to get away and hit the reset.
Neither of us had a clue how we were going to survive when we got back, we just knew we needed to go.
Interestingly enough, along the way we discovered Airbnb and had some great experiences with a few different Airbnb hosts along on our travels.
We ended up listing our apartment while we were traveling and by the time we got home we ended up booking our first guests.
That led to about 60 more guests after that!
We literally started doing Airbnb full time by renting out our apartment like it was a hostel.
This ended up becoming a huge part of my income for years to come, and it still is to this day!
Of course this was never the plan when we first decided to go on that road trip... we just discovered it along the way!
If we had already been successful, it's very likely that we would have 1) never heard of Airbnb, 2) never been inspired to try it.
When you haven't succeeded yet, you discover amazing things that you weren't expecting along the way.
4. You Realize That You Don't Need Much
How often do we keep ourselves at bay because we need that special gadget, or we need to have enough money, or because we are waiting for the right time?
All of that goes to the wayside when you are failing and NEED to succeed.
Suddenly you are forced to operate in the NOW and make due with what you have NOW.
It's amazing because as I developed my abilities on Steemit, I realized that I had more than I would ever need to be successful.
By just creating every day I discovered things about myself that really worked well.
In the past, I really struggled with writing. It took me awhile to write much of anything and I was super insecure about sharing my ideas...
On Steemit I discovered that I could write creatively engaging posts and that I could write them consistently with ease.
In the past, I would spend so much time filming and editing high quality videos that ultimately ended up having low entertainment value and getting zero exposure...
On Steemit I discovered that I could film quickly with just my phone yet still put out interesting and exciting content that people would watch.
In the past, I really was struggling to find work and was starting to get anxious about my future...
On Steemit, I discovered that I could stop looking for more work and instead, create my own work which paid me!
The things I thought I needed were actually not what I needed at all, but I first needed to NOT succeed in order to realize that.
Once I was put into a place where I had to make something happen, I realized that I already had all the tools I needed to succeed.
You need far less than you think to succeed.
Failure IS LIfe, Here's Why:
Look at the word "failure" right now...
What word can you find lingering in there?
That's right!
You can literally find the letters "L", "I", "F", "E"!
Life is a PART of failure.
It's what INSPIRES success.
It encourages us to be adventurous.
It motivates us to take action.
It helps us to discover what we really are looking for.
And it helps us to realize that we don't need much to get to where we want to be.
It helps us to discover what we really are looking for.
And it helps us to realize that we don't need much to get to where we want to be.
Failure and the lack of success I've experienced in my life is fully responsible for my current success.
If you are at a place in your life right now where you are feeling unsuccessful, remember the true positive aspects of this experience.
I know it can be hard to see the whole forest when you're in the middle of the jungle...
But sometimes the awareness that chaos is what is required for structure is what gets you through tough times.
If we didn't fail often, we would miss out on so many great opportunities.
So the next time you do fail...
Jump with joy!
Because you, my friend...
Are on your way to true and ever-lasting success!
Thanks For Stopping By :)
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Wow. This is amazing. Delayed success helps build and develop you. It brings out the best in you.
When success is not worked for it is less valued but when it is worked for, it will highly appreciated at last.
Delay in success might cause many to quit. But those that quit were not born to win because winners never quit.
Thanks for sharing. I can't leave without resteeming this post.
You are awesome @casweeney! Glad you enjoyed and got some substance from this post! Thanks so much for reading and sharing :)
You are welcome sir. That is the least we do for ourselves.
@axios ,
That was literally on point man! Like wow. Are you the guy who lives inside my mind? 🤔 This article is so relatable especially to the minnows like us. If you come to think of it. Before Steemit I didn't know that I can(surely can!) edit videos.
This is beyond motivational. Thanks for teaching your ways. I automatically want you to be my friend. Man, this is so inspiring! I resteemed this to inspire many, I want this to be seen by my fellow Filipino who just newly signed up in this realm of Steemit.
May I know in what app or website you created your GIF? I have been making mine in img.flip but everytime I do, the quality became so horrible.
Ahh! So glad to hear it inspired you! Mission accomplished. :)
I saw your channel awhile back - you're doing such a great job with your videos (I think it was the plant collection one). They're very pretty and I need to watch more of them!
For GIFs... I use adobe suite. You render it in premiere pro then turn it into a gif in photoshop. That's just one of many ways though. I would recommend gyazo if you ever wanna make gifs out of things that are playing on your screen! It's really useful for stuff like that.
Hey, brother, we had similar journeys. Different but with the lesson of life.
For me, as a basketball player, I had a tough journey. Two years in a row I had problems with injuries and one summer no team wanted to sign me. And, in Europe contracts are not for 3, 4 years. You rarely get these type of contracts. To cut the long story short story.
Soon I was like you without a money and without a contract which was my source of income. It was a scary time. But, I refused to live on my parent's backs. So during the summer every day I would go to the ocean and scuba dive for shells. Which I would later sell illegally to restaurants around Croatia. I actually made a decent money, but most importantly I was having fun doing it. As I love the ocean and scuba diving. There is such a peace and calm sensation diving it the depts of the blue ocean.
Anyways, it made me appreciate life way more and every opportunity I get I choose to be happy. Soon after I got an opportunity to earn a contract and I took it. For 3 years now I am playing in Italy for a decent income and I believe without those struggles I would not be here NOW. Living in the moment and enjoying everything life gives me every single day. :)
So STRUGGLE eventually lead me to appreciate life even more, because I know what it took for me to get here. I appreciate every single day I still get to play this amazing sport which has taken me on a countless journey so far. :)
Amazing post, I agree with every single word you wrote. And, you are right. We write differently, but about the same thing. :)
Wow @awakentolife I love your story man! What am epic way to make ends meet. I truly feel you there and man... that's just so awesome!
Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing. I appreciate you man!
Thank you, my friend. Epic indeed for me. As I enjoyed doing it and making a living from it. Plus not to mention it helped me recover my injury and get my muscles stronger. :)
I am glad I got to share even though I did not plan it. It just poured out of me. Maybe because I can relate closely to your story :)
Axios, I have been wanting to invite you to my audio podcast...
https://steemit.com/dsound/@screenwriterml/matters-of-mindeset-episode-i
Hey @screenwriterml! Awesome! I'm going to put this in my sched to listen to your podcast and then I'll get back to you :)
Couldn't agree more @axios. I used to wonder how my life will turn out to be if I were to follow a safer path > study hard, score all As, lead a 'normal' but safe life. I was never really the normal kind, and had the need to satisfy my curiosity. I'm glad I took risks, failed and bounce right up :) life's good... failure's good. It leads you to paths you never known before <3
It's all good! In the end, the good AND the bad really do serve us in wonderful ways if we pay attention and find appreciation in the moment. The unknown paths tend to be the best ones too ;-)
This post is underrated, I was smiling the whole time I was reading this. Again, with tears pooling in my eyes, this was definitely a good-read and a must-read for everyone who hasn't.
As my favorite movie character would say "You can never really appreciate up when you haven't really been down." :)
Kudos to you and your hard work, like they say, good things come to those work their asses off. :)
Aww I love this comment @sarahwanderlust. Made me smile :) Totally dig the quotes you shared. To add onto both of those: "I came here to do two things, chew bubble gum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubble gum..."
This was inspiring, many thanks for sharing this insight for us newbies who haven't yet found our footing. It's great to hear that having a hard time at first is actually good news :)
To quote Edison, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
Failure is the best teacher because it forces you to actually test your assumptions to figure out why something didn't work. Humans have a tendency to be uncritical of success; why do I need to think more about that, I've already figured it out? However with failure we can't proceed until we have reevaluated the problem to find another potential solution.
If you aren't failing, you aren't challenging yourself enough.
I agree! I assume its kind of natural to "not break it if its already working". Thankfully we have failure to keep our asses in line haha.
Yeah it’s amazing when we let go of how we defined failure and success!!!
Redefining definitely helps!
Interesting perspective :). Upvote Resteemed
"What difference does it make, success or failure? Wether you go up the ladder or down your position is shaky. Stand with your two feet on the ground." Lau Tzu
Love this quote!
Me too :D
I can totally relate to this. I could've had a lot more SP by now but things didn't work out in favor. I don't mind because I believe whatever happens is for our own good. And then I landed on this article. Great post dude. :)
Good for you man. I've had a few experiences like that for myself already. The crypto space tests you so much! There's so many potential "what ifs" that you really just gotta trust the process and know that whatever comes your way will be best for you. I'm glad you found this post!
Great post. I love this idea of the interplay between comfort and adventure. I wonder if a part of it also has to do with adventure being inherently risky. If you are at a place of comfort, then the risk of adventure is more daunting. Whereas from a place without comfort, you don't have much to lose and everything to gain. I actually just wrote a post on a similar topic. The idea of finding beauty in struggle. If you're interested: https://steemit.com/motivation/@ssimkins9/beauty-in-struggle
Cheers.
Very true @ssimkins9, I think that's a huge part of it. Losing all hope is freedom is a quote from fight club that seems odd at first but it actually makes sense in this context for me.
I just read, upvoted, and commented on your incredibly sincere and honest post. Thanks for sharing!
Just seeing this now. I can't believe I didn't catch the Fight Club reference myself. As soon as I read that I could hear it in Edward Norton's voice.
For me, it has been more of a deconstruction process in which all things that I previously put hope in had to crumble away, but at the bottom of that pit, I am starting to find things truly worth hoping in.
Man, totally love that quote. Helps me put things in perspective, really.
Since we started talking from my post on Steve Jobs, I remembered this quote from him on the same topic too.
@maverickfoo great quote! Being in the crypto space more it's really helped to give that kind of perspective. You have something like bitcoins (and other alt coins) who have been relatively silent for years... just building and building without much public awareness. This boom! It explodes and suddenly it's a thing. I try to keep that perspective with the special things I'm creating. If it's ahead of the game, then it's supposed to be a slow exponential curve.
Glad you stopped by. Thanks for sharing @maverickfoo!
From a cheese head to a multi talented artist performer and world traveler. You got me sold. I'm following axio. I never heard of airbnb before. Do you write posts about travel places and receive earnings? When I checked out their site I was directed to the Korean site and there was a monetary value at the bottom of their travel posts.
Haha thank you @mineopoly! So airbnb.com is a home sharing website. Basically people who are traveling will pay you to sleep in your space for a night. You can set it up like a hotel or hostel and provide breakfast and entertainment if you like. We usually did that as a way to get to know our guests.
I actually haven't been traveling much lately but the plan is to operate full time on steemit and then travel and share my adventures along the way :)
OK. Thank you. I remember now. You have a lot of energy and talents. I think you will find many avenues open up to you here. Have a great time.
thank you for replying and commenting on my post. See instead replying under my post, I went to read your :) good job.
this one attracted my attention ->Lack of success is simply the best -
motivation for success.
In my case the lack of success was not a motivator. In this case what you define as a success - more money,more visibility, more sharing? defining success for me becomes another word of contribution, because its two way approach from in and out. when we contribute, we feel achieving, succeeding.
so, keep contributing :) sometime its just time, sometime just a smile, because you made someone's day - success :)
appreciate your postings @axios
Contribution is a great one. It's a basic human need to want to be able to provide value to the world! Glad you enjoyed this article @loretapi. Thanks for sharing!
Great post.. you have a new follower now
@axios I love the way your mind works! I've always been a firm believer that you need to understand the polarities of the world. There can not be value in things where there is not something to reflect why that is so. If everything was perfect and existed in harmony that would become the norm and than that would become the neutral state. All the things that we would perceive as beautiful, wonderful, positive, whatever would lose their strength and value. I really enjoy seeing your fire for creativity. Please keep it coming!
Great point @neeqi! We truly would not be able to experience life without the contrast. A dark canvas is necessary for the bright light and color to appear!
So glad you enjoyed this and I'm glad we crossed paths :)
wow, you sure touched some deep stuffs. thanks for sharing this.
This post is a good wake up call for planktons like me. Many new Steemians can benefit from your post. I am resteeming this post.
@axios thanks for such a through provoking post :) It's interesting how some things are easy to give up on when we fail and others it wouldn't occur to us to quit. Parenting for instance is hard and sometimes we feel like we're failing, but we don't give up, it makes up better parents for not always "succeeding" early on.
nice write up ... i enjoyed reading this...keep it coming.i just followed you please do the same .
upvoted, resteem =) Because its a good example of working it out when life is not in favor of you =)
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