A penny for your Steemit thoughts (literally)
When I was growing up, one of my favorite expressions was "a penny for your thoughts." For me, it always connoted a form of kindly wisdom. The people who always said it were people like teachers, coaches, family members and professors. What they said with just those 5 little words was actually something much more profound - they were essentially saying, "I care about you. I may not have all the money in the world to solve your problem, and I may not have the perfect answer to mend a broken relationship, but I can offer something much more valuable - my time listening to you."
Deep down, isn't that what we all want - to be heard, to be listened to, and to feel like our voices matter?
The real value of a Steemit vote
I've been thinking a lot about "a penny for your thoughts" lately. I signed up for Steemit about 3 weeks ago, and I quickly learned that, as a Steemit newbie, my blog posts were worth close to zero and my upvotes were worth only $0.01. (Sometimes, in fact, my upvotes seemed to take away value from a post!) At first, I was frustrated - Whaaat? My opinion is only worth a single penny? (mock outrage)
But now, 3 weeks later, I've started to see the bigger picture. I may only be donating a single penny to authors across Steemit, but I am doing something much more valuable - I am showing that I am willing to listen. Now, of course, there are probably some mighty orcas and whales on Steemit who could care less. My little penny probably means very little to them and their plans for wealth formation.
And, for that reason, I've started to reallocate my daily upvotes around Steemit. I've stopped chasing the "profitable post," hoping to catch a small crumb from a large rewards meal. Sure, I still upvote many pieces of content that are doing well. But I am also making sure that I save some of my 10 upvotes daily for pieces of content that are raw, authentic and real. I am looking for blog posts that resonate with me. My pennies might not make anyone wealthy, but I hope that they help to advance the bigger picture going on at Steemit - providing a unique platform where everyone can share their successes (and failures) and do their part to make the world a better place.
Image via Pexels
I joined Steemit in the 2nd week of December as the price of Steem was taking off. It seemed like it took less than a week for my upvote to become a penny most of the time and every time I looked at the value of a post or my wallet, it was higher. It's not nearly as much fun now, but too late, I'm hooked! I think the advice to not focus solely on money is good, kind of like in life. :-)
Agreed - it helps to keep things in perspective. Looks like you joined Steemit at just about the same time I did (I joined in mid-January 2018)!
Follow @money-dreamer. It's a bot that seems to pay randomly every week for free. I received a payout this morning. Every little bit helps. LOL