Power sliding

Meh, fuck it.

I have been collecting liquid Steem for a rainy day fund but figured, what is the point of it just sitting there in my wallet doing nothing? So, I powered it up. I have been thinking about it for a while but figured that I would wait until the first of October for SPUD, but since I am traveling that day and don't know what my connection is going to be like, I may as well do it now.

I never thought I would have so much Steem.

While for many this is not a great sum and for many others it is a massive amount. I have actually never had so much value of any kind of currency in one place and to get to this point, it has cost me a great deal more than any of you will ever know. The cost I have paid is not your concern, but for those that think that this shit has come easily are quite mistaken.

It is always funny when people say things like "it is only because..." as if that indicates that oif they wanted to, they could do the same.

Go ahead.

I like that earning significant amounts of Steem is hard because if it was easy, everyone would be doing it and that would mean, it doesn't have much value. The thing that people tend to forget that while the want the value of Steem to go up, that value comes through demand and scarcity and if it was easy to get, it wouldn't be scarce and likely, there wouldn't be much demand either as it would be deemed valueless.

Many of the early Steem adopters didn't see the value in Steem and some of the highest ever earners on the platform have powered down to near zero. Good. Bye.

Easy to get anything is also easy to let go of also, and those who come by Steem easily are also going to let it go easily. It really doesn't matter much who powers down or when because while it has effects on price in the moment to some degree, if the goal is to build a valuable ecosystem of many facets, that short-term hit will be meaningless. Those that willingly powerdown and sell now are doing us all a favor, because they would be the ones dumping when price is higher anyway.

Timing is important and taking an insignificant hit now at a baseline price is much better than hundreds of millions being dumped on the markets later at a much higher price. Go ahead, dump. The price will go to 5 cents? 4? Good.

For those who have always wanted to get into Steem, they will have an opportunity like no other and those already in will be able to cost average heavily downward. Of course, the lower the price goes the greater the threat of someone buying a great deal of Steem and fucking up the improving distribution, but that is part of the risk for those who stay, and those who are buying in.

It is a funny thing on Steem as while price falls, some people feel they are getting a bargain while others believe the price will never go up again. It will.

Well, it might not.

But if you think it doesn't have a chance of going up, why are you bothering to stay here at these prices? Why are you still collecting, even if you are selling? Ah, you want to extract all you can? Good. Please do.

Of course, the rest of the community is going to have their 7 day say about that, but I like when people attempt to earn Steem. Over the years many people have asked me advice how to improve their earnings and other than buy in and powerup which many don't want to or cannot do, the answer is uniformly the same.

Work hard at the right things.

There is no magic formula, there is no magical content, no secret to getting support on Steem. No matter how smart you are, if you are unable to find a way to earn on Steem, you are not overly bright or skilled as there are so many possibilities. Of course, the amount one might earn will vary but if one is only willing to do what one really wants to do, behave in the way they want to behave, say what one wants to say and present what and the way one wants to present, there might be limitations on earnings.

Sure, some might be lucky and be able to have skills and knowledge that is already accepted by the voting community, but if not and still wanting to earn, one is going to have to learn and adapt or, train the community into believing that there is value in supporting.

It is easy, jut post about Steem!

Go ahead.

Sure, you might get lucky from time to time but when it comes to consistency, there is a great deal more to it than just posting what is popular, what is accepted as one actually has to find various ways to add value. Even having large stake is no longer a guarantee of having support or follows these days as prices are so low, that unless the stake is enormous, people take getting votes from it for granted or, see it as insignificant.

Vests are all that matter at this point.

As I and others have said, people tend to look at the vote values in dollars, not Steem and consider the price or vote worth in dollars too, not Steem or the vests that are the markers of the Steem that is going to be drawn from the pool as a reward. People take votes for granted because unless they hit their "dollar" expectations, they don't see it as worth it.

What the important thing is though isn't the earnings, it is the vests that give the voice on the platform with which to not only vote for rewards, but vote for witnesses, vote for Steem proposals, vote for supporting applications and projects and of course, create Resource credits, something that I will write more about later I guess.

This is why I powered up what I can today because there is not much point in it sitting liquid at this time and I feel that it could be better utilized voting on others and earning for them and myself. I back my ability to allocate Steem resources to where they need to go more than I back yours.

This isn't a position of arrogance, it is a position of stake. What I mean by this is that those with stake have the power and responsibility to improve the value of what they hold rather than degrade it because, they own it. Some will abuse this position in various ways and decrease the value through various influencing factors, others will use it to improve the best they can. Some, might be better off delegating their resources to others if they do not believe that they are well suited to taking on the responsibility.

When it comes to the platform, we all own our share of it in the Steem we have powered up, and now I have 4000 more vests staked. It took me a fair bit of time to create that rainy day Steem fund, but I figure that it is safer in my hands than yours. Funny isn't it, but this is the way the world works in general as we each believe that we are the most qualified to look after the resources we earn - even though most of us are in debt.

One thing I love on Steem is at least here, I am debt free by design.

Having no debt means having the ability to choose and while I work very hard in IRL to catch up, I work very hard on Steem to get ahead. At some point, I believe that my Steem work will outpace the value of my IRL work.

This platform is fast changing form and while the transition periods might be difficult, where we are heading is in the right direction to build a platform and community that has values of many kinds. One of the most important values is that one must value themselves enough to consider that what they do matters, and that has nothing to do with stake or earnings - and nothing to do with Steem at all.

If you consider that what you are doing doesn't matter, stop doing it and choose again.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]