Steemit Made Me Not Like Writing
On January 1st I decided that I was going to try to write every single day of the year. I hadn't heard of Steemit yet so I started out on a well known blogging website called Medium.
When I started writing I was really enjoying myself. I had been so focused on other areas of my life and I was at a point where I could begin to put some mental energy toward a hobby. It wasn't necessarily that I didn't have enough time before, but I didn't have the time management skills (or the ability to focus on more than one thing) to incorporate it into my day.
When I discovered Steemit via an Instagram post from Neil Strauss I was blown away by what I found. I didn't have much idea of what the 'Blockchain' was or much knowledge of cryptocurrency as a whole, but a platform where you get paid to write? That sounded pretty damn good to me.
For the first 2 days I went all in. I spent all my time on Steemit reading, posting, commenting, and upvoting. This was the best! Inevitably, there was a crash from this high. I had become completely distracted by why I had started writing in the first place: For my own enjoyment.
Now, I was primarily concerned with upvoting an article at the right time, commenting on posts, and wondering what topics to write on based on how much money I thought it would make.
I hated it
I started to feel obligated to post, rather than posting because I wanted to. After seeing other people who started around the same time as me doing better I became dissatisfied with how much each of my posts were making. I didn't wake up with the same enthusiasm to write my post for the day that I did when I was writing on Medium.
I debated whether I could continue writing on Steemit and not be distracted by these things. After all, I did want to do the best I could. I considered making the switch back to Medium or even creating my own website where I would be able to write relatively distraction free.
After thinking it over, I came to the conclusion (After some serious convincing by Laura) that there is no point in avoiding this platform especially when it is on the rise. Why take this opportunity away from myself when I will be writing every day anyway? The problem then shifted from being a problem with Steemit, back to a problem with myself.
With a shift in mindset and a deliberate complete disregard of how much money each posts make, I have begun writing on Steemit again but for the enjoyment. After I realised the problem was with me, I was able to quickly correct my problem and focus on why I was doing it without the distraction. I believe I will produce better content with this mindset anyway!
Thank you for reading!
It would mean so much to me if you could upvote ☝️ this post if you found it of value and resteem ♻️ it if you think your audience would like it :)
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I can totally relate to this. I said that I would start writing more this year and found Steemit recently. Something that helped me was just setting a small goal like create 30 posts before the end of February. So far so good :) I don't really have any expectations other than try to enjoy it.
Good job! I agree that setting small achievable goals is very important. Well done on focusing on the enjoyment!
Glad that you're making that shift in perspective, @jeremyc! Honestly, I understand where you're coming from because I'm just like you too. Till today, I still have my doubts and concerns over my content because I care about the rewards that I'm making out of them.. (because this is my income stream!)
However, I always keep myself in check by asking:
If the anwers are yes for both, then I'll just go ahead and upload it (and ignore whatever doubts that I have within me)
Yes! Good job Aaron. Having a set of specific focus questions you can ask yourself is a very good way to filter your content.
That can be used in life as a whole as well by asking something like "Will this activity move me forward or backward?" and such.
Feeling obligated to do anything can be a huge turnoff, and focusing on money feels the same way for me, too, because there's the sense of failure if you don't make what you're wanting.
For me, Steemit became way more fun when I started joining communities, following trails I picked up from Steemit and links to the Discord groups. There are lots of them, from P.A.L. (@minnowsupport) to #steemitbloggers to #teamaustralia & #teamcanada and such... @laurajane might enjoy Steem Sugar and #teamgirlpowa, though men who support women are welcome in Girl Powa as well... There are so many tribes to connect with. For me, finding #thealliance was finding my home, though I have friends in many places here, and am grateful for each of them.
Hope you find your tribe, and that writing becomes more of a joy! Still, kudos for having the dedication to write even when you don't feel like it. Every day is different. Keep being you! :)
Hey Katrina! Thank you so much for your comment and I am sure I will find a community that is right and when I am ready :) Perhaps it will end up being the alliance haha. Right now I just need to focus on enjoying writing.
I have seen you just powering along and joining all these communities so well done to you! Seriously good job :)
It's been busy, but thank you! You do you. Everything on your own time. Focusing on writing is a wonderful thing! Glad you're here. :)
So true writing should always be about what you WANT to post rather than what you HAVE to. It's just like YouTube where some good content makers are still posting what they WANT to rather than following whats trending!
Totally agree @sidrahwrites! Thank you for sharing your thoughts :)
I wrote a post about my early experience here on Steemit...now I’m a toddler and making first steps forward. You’re great, just lower the pressure on yourself - you will do great here! :)
Thank you for the kind words @matejka13! I'll check out your post!
I like your writings, it's like I found "anonymous" friend who always at the same page with me. I posted this today and then found your post. I post it because I really think nobody read them and it's just an another fund. After reading your post, I start think about it but still not sure that it's steemit fault or mine :D
haha I am glad you enjoyed reading this. I checked out your post, and at the end of the day I think you should put out the content that you most enjoy producing and not focus on what people seem to care about. If you consistently pout out great long posts, it will take a while, but people would start to notice.
Everything is just a slow progression and patience is required! I got stuck in that mindset and had to shake myself out of it to enjoy writing again.
Thanks for commenting! :)