Hello readers - welcome to the first of a handful of articles on the lessons I learnt from directly speaking to our fellow community at Steemfest.

I decided to put these together because...

• I figured that if I had learnt something from discussions with others, others within the Steemit community may benefit too.
• Steemfest taught me about the power of the community on Steemit, and that's a wonderful thing.
• A written post would exist forever, something that I can return to for reference at a later date.

Cryptogee

This first in a series of articles is based on @Cryptogee and his comments to me on conviction, getting started and on making mistakes.

Conviction

After first watching Cryptogee talk on Thursday's session, in a talk called "Forever On The Blockchain," the following comment particularly resonated with me. [Forgive me if I paraphrase his words, as I had trouble keeping up to speed scribbling down as quickly as I could while still listening to the talk as a whole.]

"Convinction is key... if your audience doesn't think you believe your own words, why would they believe you?"

The point here is that in order to have impact, influence or indeed even land your own message, you must really feel whatever it is you are saying or sharing.

Cryptogee's case in point: if someone genuinely believes the world is about to end, would they take a moment out to browse for a holiday? Most likely not.

As it happens, about 30 mins before I posted this post, Cryptogee posted his own article on the very same talk. I suggest you check it out here (but make sure to return when you've done so!).

In it, he reminds us that

So our stories are simply the facts and events that we experience, that contribute to who we are. They are not fixed, they constantly evolve, we make new chapters every day, adding to our overarching story line.

The world's most impressive orators, whether it be Barack Obama or one of many others, believe with genuine conviction what they are saying. This in turn resonates with an audience of readers and listeners alike, creating a longer lasting impression and emotive response in doing so.

Getting Started

One of my problems as an individual is that there is a huge gap in time between the moment I have an idea and the time I choose to execute it.

Whether it be projects, websites, videos or a number of other things, I often delay its development for so long in the quest to be perfect that the process can be permanently put to a halt.

The advice I received on this was not to be afraid of being wrong, but to have confidence and an open-mind for the future.

Writing this article is in itself a big deal for me, as I would likely have previously over-thought it, taking too long to write it or indeed refrain from posting it at all.

Which leads us onto...

Mistakes are rarely a bad thing

Similarly, upon hearing about my nervousness about not having the 'right' content or reaching the 'right' audience, Cryptogee mentioned not to be afraid of being wrong.

mistakes are only mistakes if you refuse to learn from them. If you sat down and took something away on how you'd do things differently another time round, they're no longer a mistake but an education.

Indeed, he candidly revealed how a business venture had not been a failure in his eyes, but an oppportunity to readdress certain areas that he had under-estimated.

Conclusion

As I conclude, I just wanted to take a moment to sincerely thank @cryptogee once more for his time, energy and discussion over the course of the last few days.

I learnt plenty, and in turn enjoyed the conversations and debates that followed.

Good luck back home and perhaps we'll cross paths again this time next year!

Peace.

Franck / @goodwithtravels