You know those moments when you have a mental image of what it is you want to write about in your article, only for you to hit the keyboard (and the mood changes) and you go on to write something else. Well, this is one of those moments. My initial post was about “attention”. I had all my points written down, but my mind just wants to write about something else.
Well, here we go
The reason I was going to write about something else and not what I had in mind is that since I started on Hive I haven’t set any goal for myself when it comes to writing. Especially how many free writes I’ll have to do(no research needed here), same goes with how many comments is minimum for one day. After reading some great Hive growth related articles as of recent, I realize that this is an activity I would like and have to get accustomed to if I want to have an All round Hive experience.
We create to engage
I have got to a nice hive buzz level with creating but just that for now, I don’t have a specific goal concerning creating on Hive or what to be creating on a daily basis. Hence some of my free write.
And while I think it’s a great thing to create content, it’s also twice as valuable to you, that you consume more of what the community is creating and put into writing what you think about them.
This is how you grow as a user and as a community. And you know what the good thing is, when you start to read more you also get to learn more about how to create more engaging content and comment.
I’m trying not to be specific about my point. And I have my reason.
One of them is that when we beckon it to people that there’s a way out of a difficulty they are facing, many people like to focus their attention on that one thing that could make it happen faster among the things you’re referring to.
They want that specific point. Even before reading to the end
When we talk about engaging with users for our growth, and omit the part where creating is also as important as engaging. It makes it feel like we are stressing the need to only engage alone without promoting more people to create content, find their voice or grow their writing skill. But nonetheless creating has its own purpose same with engaging.
We engage to create and connect
That’s true. And the main purpose of social media. However, most times we engage without being conscious or specific about our purpose for engaging and connecting. These are inner stuffs btw but it sure helps with improving one’s hive experience if applied.
Is it to gain followers, rewards, attention, insight, alpha, gems or whatever you call engaging.
The fact is that you can balance it all without sacrificing one for another I.e by engaging with people with a specific goal of connecting with them. Nothing else. If you focus on the rewards you’re meant to get disappointed at some point when you don’t get rewarded and that will make your Hive experience look like a ladder you’re finding hard to climb.
When you have a specific plan to follow through, then the task becomes easier to tackle because you are not there thinking about what to do or whom to engage with or what to write.
You just go do it. And when you’re done connecting , you move on to the next F-ing thing. That way, we don’t have to suffer for anything external or additions that comes with connecting, because they are all added when we connect anyways.
I do engage myself with a lot of content, but lately, I feel I’ve not been doing enough. I can connect more and grow my following.
And when it comes to engaging and connecting that’s not the only area that needs my attention.
Grow your craft
write daily
Many struggle with a lot of complexities on Hive. But on a larger scale many struggle with writing daily. And what I’ve found out is that it’s not because they can’t write a 700 words blog post but most are still new to writing/blogging that they don’t want to write a shitty post, so they end up not writing at all just because they want to write that perfect and enticing post.
That’s not how you grow the craft ser.*
This is a specific goal and entails you making the move by sitting your ass down to write — perfect or not, quality or not, enticing or not engaging or not. You don’t need the perfection but what you do need is to put in some effort so that you can see yourself growing with every article posted.
It is said that we are what we think about, and writing is what we can use to think.
And indirectly know how others think.
This is one of the reason why I wasn’t going to think before writing this post, and let the writing do the thinking
It’s like an exercise in an attempt to find my voice on the blank page by filling it up with words. This is what those just starting out with Hive can incorporate into their daily writing routine, maybe once or twice a week.
Dont compare what you create or engage with
quality or not just create and consume as much as you can
You get to learn from both.
When I read/write a quality post I’ve got a lot to gain from it, but when it comes to a not-so-quality article I also have twice as much to learn from it.
Reading/writing a scrambled post is a way to see how much mistakes is possible to make when writing. This is much more true for non native speaker of English but writes in the language everyday.
For those not versed in the English language, it’s best to not think about the other amazing English native writers whose writing looks perfect. Because we compare a lot we’ll start to find it difficult to write and start to hide ourselves from the world just because of imperfection. When those times should’ve been spent in writing, progressing and growing the craft daily.
In one of my post last week, I talked about how I had to remind myself that writing sh&t consistently for three months will enable me to see a lot of my mistakes when it comes to writing than when I only write once perfect post in a week.
Repetition matters.
And when it comes to Hive, while it is a good thing to advocate for engaging all day long we should also have it in mind that creating long - form content is also important(quality or not )and much beneficial to us and the community in the long run.
We are not only going to get rewarded in the process but also be able to think clear thoughts, because writing helps you think and the more you write better, the more you think better.
In short - be specific about your plan on Hive. And while it’s a good thing to focus on growing you account it’s also twice as beneficial to also grow our writing skills in the process. And the only way is to tick all the above boxes of creating, engaging, connecting and growing your writing skill all in one go. I might not be that perfect writer you wish to always read rn, but I wish to get there and that’s thru practice.
Thanks for reading, until next time