The Pursuit of Happyness... on Steemit

    Many of us entered Steemit with the motivation of earning additional income, full of hope when we heard or read about the existence of a platform where we would be paid to share content. Something like a "Facebook where you get paid". Some of those early ideas, product of imprecise advertising and transmitted by word of mouth, turned out not to be entirely true. For example, a "Facebook where you get paid" now seems like a huge simplification of the effort required to develop good content and capture the attention of a large audience.


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    However, what brought most of us here, the possibility of making money, is still real. It did not fade away like many of our initial myths about Steemit. That’s good news ... Right? I remember that the first thing I heard a few months ago was that it was a new way to earn dollars on the internet, and although I later discovered that they were not exactly dollars, it was a currency with greater value and stability than my country’s currency. A few SBDs or a little bit of STEEM can make a difference in a time of need in the life of an inhabitant of a third world nation.


    So, the money in question is there and is real despite the face of disbelief that I observed in my mother a few days ago (worthy of a post), when I finally told her why I was investing so much of my life in front of the computer without "apparently" doing anything useful. The only thing that exists between the desired success and us is a huge amount of effort, moments of frustration, time and work not rewarded in the short term, etc. In short, a picture that we did not imagine at the beginning of our trip.

    This sounds like the plot of an inspiring movie. The story of some underdog character on his way to success through numerous obstacles and difficulties. This reminds me of the movie The Pursuit of Happiness, starring Will Smith, that tells the story (based on real life events) of Chris Gardner, a man who goes through a deep personal and financial crisis while trying to achieve success in a new career within a training and recruiting program in a major company.


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    During the program a promising position in the company is disputed with 19 other candidates. What makes his struggle more difficult is that it was a full-time, unpaid internship. This obviously represented a problem, having no home and having to take care of and maintain his little son by himself. Having to work full time and without pay for a period of several weeks while trying to survive in the remaining time was really a feat that this man achieved. Also, knowing that this story is inspired by real events makes it even more inspiring.

    The situation described above seems familiar to me. Working without pay for weeks is similar to what many of us live on this platform every day. Chris's determination to succeed in the midst of the worst difficulty led him to excel in the program, to work harder than anyone and finally get the dream job. What can we learn from his experience? Are we trying hard enough here?

    Steemit represents an opportunity to exploit our creativity and talents, earn money doing something we enjoy, work from the comfort of home, be free from the centralized work system, etc. If a platform is able to give us all these possibilities should not we intentionally strive to give the best of ourselves and improve on it day by day? Personally, I hope to keep working hard and trying to do my best even though my current earnings are short and I dream of one day dedicating myself to something I love, earning enough to live off this and be free of traditional jobs. This would be my own version of The Pursuit of Happiness.


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All rights to the movie The Pursuit of Happiness and the image belong to Columbia Pictures.}