We are taught from an early age that certain actions are rewarded. Certain behaviors are better than others. Especially behaviors that tend to benefit society and the larger “tribe” of humans.
This kind of thinking, coupled with materialism, often leads to this “tit for tat” attitude. Many people are always looking for a trade.
On their time.
On their money.
On their health.
People tend to look for a clear and cut transaction. “If I take x of these diet pills, I will lose y weight.” Or “if I invest 1 hour of time, I expect x dollars.”
Some transactions in life are simple. There is a clear cut answer to what you’re going to get for what you put in.
Others.. not so much.
There are plenty of situations and actions in life that may have no clear reward. Some things that may have delayed gratification or some that even have an unknown gratification.
You know that something is right. You know that it is good for you. You know that it moves the needle toward your ultimate goal.. but you don’t see the clear reward in the near-term.
This can easily be translated to the thinking of many people who come across Steem. Some will use it a few times and then be disappointed by their rewards and move on.
Others will earn some quick cash and then stay hooked for months or years on end.
Others may realize that Steem has a long-term potential payoff. That they may only make $0.10 or $10 on each of their posts, but that’s not really $0.10 or $10… It’s 1 or 100 STEEM…
In my mind, 100 STEEM is a lot more meaningful than $10. There is a lot more to it than that. When I think of STEEM as a currency, I imagine the value that it could have if the right variables were in order.
I can (and have for the past 3 years) imagined STEEM as something more valuable in the future than it is today.
Today, STEEM might be worth $.13 or it might have shot up to $.175 (it just did the ladder).. Regardless of the price today, the price tomorrow still seems better.
I can see the development. I can see the positive things being built on Steem. I’m not stuck in a hazy cloud where I can’t tell left from right though. I’m not delusional about what it takes for STEEM to reach mass adoption or even “partial” mass adoption (let’s call that, 1M daily active users)…
It’s going to take a hell of a lot of work. You may put in 10 hours a day on STEEM and have little in terms of short-term gains to show for it. Even in this situation, if you believe in the long-term payoff that Steem can provide, then you may be positioning yourself exactly where you need to be.
Everything is a game of perspective. Where we choose to place our attention and focus our actions determines where we end up in life and affects our enjoyment of the journey.
happy $0.175. Here's to $1.75 and beyond 🚀