Steemit is a journey, much like competitive swimming.

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There are many important lessons from my days as a swimmer that definitely helps in my journey on Steemit. I was a state representative and team captain for my team. We trained everyday year round for at least 2 hours per session. On weekends, we trained for two sessions, once in the morning and another in the evening. This lasted from my primary school days until my secondary school years.

In many cases, attending a class to learn how to swim and swim training are two very different scenarios. Swim training required us to clock at least 2500 meters everyday, on top of any gym or land activities that we had to do. Needless to say, for a teenager and a child, there were better ways to spend my evenings or weekends. That being said, I have learnt as much from my training as I have from school. A few of these lessons I have applied in my Steemit journey.

The Routine

I suppose this applies to every sport, the more someone trains, the better they master the sport. Steemit and swimming are no different. It all starts with a routine. Since I had to train everyday for my swimming, it became easier as time went by. The hardest thing to master for me was the dive. It is the time when you get on the diving board and when the whistle blows, you leap forward into the pool. I, however am not aerodynamically built. While others pierce the surface of the water gracefully, I slam it hard. Much like a whale. There was a lot of pain involved, especially if you land on the wrong angle and it hits a certain sensitive area.

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However, in time, I managed to master it. The dive is much like my journey on Steemit and it resembled my content. When I started, I had absolutely no idea what to write. I had varying interests, but do I write about what I am good at or do I write on something else that could pay well. My head was filled with doubt until I took that first leap and continued practicing. In time, I improved, or at least I thought I did. It is a journey and I have been able to dive correctly into my writing in a more graceful manner. That however was achieved through much practice, especially for a person like me who never saw a point in blogging or posting anything on Facebook. It took consistent practice and like my dive in swimming, it improved.

While much success is attributed to practicing constantly, the routine plays an even important role. Much like how the daily routine for swimming helped me practice certain skills, I started a daily routine of posting on Steemit. Aside from blowing off steam from my work (get it?). It also helped my mind focus, prompting me to reflect on my day and write my mind on issues pertaining to education. It can be difficult initially but after some time, a routine is established and it gets easier to write or create something on Steemit.

The Pain and The Learning

Training in swimming for me was a rather painful affair. The muscle aches and the tiredness were all part and parcel of the training. However, nothing compared to the pain of losing. It is especially painful to lose because all those months of training, pain and sweat was for nothing. All the effort that was put in was not rewarded and at that point, all you want to do is to give up. That was how I felt initially when I started posting. It can be painful to know that all the effort put in was for nothing.

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At this point, it can be very tempting to give up. However, it is important to continue to persevere through those moments. Giving up at the point of failure means that you have surrendered but if you continue training, writing and persevering, the battle is not over. The best way to deal with failure is to shift the focus to learning, reflect on what can be learnt from this failure and do better. I was aiming to be selected for a very prestigious National tournament. I realized that after much failures that I was not doing enough gym work aside from my swimming. As such, I added two hours of training to my regime and was finally selected.

That experience has proven to be valuable on Steemit. I am still experimenting with other topics to see what works for me, even trying out different writing styles just to see how I can attract more readers. There is no definite way to tell if what you are doing is working, unless you actually write, create and post. That is when you get to see the response of those who have read it. Upon engaging some of my readers, I have come to learn what works and what does not and have since tweaked my posts to fit my audience. Your audience may be different, but the process is largely the same.

Conclusion

One of the most important lessons that I have learnt from swimming is the importance of persevering. No matter how difficult it gets, for me Steemit has become somewhat of a training. With training, it is important to achieve that one important goal. It could be getting more followers or getting that big upvote, but as we all train and persevere, it is also important to have fun!

All the best in your journey on Steemit and Steem on!

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