Last night I was up late prepping for an interview for tomorrow and then chilling out a little before heading to bed. It was just after two in the morning and then I realized.....
Damn it!!
Fifteen months straight and then failure because my mind was elsewhere. There goes that streak. Eventually though, all streaks have to come to an end. I wonder when my daily posting will finish - it has been well over four years of at least one post a day and most days, there are multiples.
Nearly every time I write, my goal is to become part of your lives in some way, by connecting with you through my own experiences. I believe that in general, we are more alike than different and have a great deal of overlap, so even though many factors in our experience are not the same at all, how we feel about them is very close. While the target might change, we all have likes, dislikes, loves and fears and we are all trying to do the best we can with what we have. This doesn't mean that we can't do better, but in the immediate moment, we can do naught else.
I am always looking to improve, but this doesn't mean that I am unhappy with who I am now. It is just that I think that we have one shot at this life, so may as well make the most out of it. Some people seem to think "the most" is being a hedonist, taking as much pleasure from life as possible. Others think it is making life as easy as possible. For me, it is about trying to add some value of some kind so that my life amounts to something greater than myself. Being my "best" can enable at least some others to perhaps realize a little more of their own potential on the journey to be theirs.
This is a very imperfect process for me and there are plenty of misses amongst the hits, but I think that on average throughout my life, those I interact with a a fraction better off for having known me. The measurement of this is of course impossible to enumerate in most cases, but in some, there likely are some potential metrics, even if they are impossible to collect together to view.
For example, how many of my colleagues have taken me somewhat seriously in regard to investing into crypto and how has their wealth and outlook on the world been affected? For those who have, they are at least, quite a bit better off financially than they were and, far more prepared for participation in the emerging crypto economy and blockchain industry.
What about on Hive itself? While I am unable to put any concrete number on it, I am quite sure that I have played a pretty influential role in the way many people understand this ecosystem, community, their place and the potential they have here, with many people I have often interacted with at length consistently over the years, shifting their position markedly and are doing far better than what their early trajectory would have taken them. Of course, I can't take credit for the change, as it is always the person who changes who does it, but I do think that I am part of the reason they started to change in the first place.
In my opinion, this is part of being useful in the community, which satisfies my own goals of adding value through my personal activity. All of this is personal because I am the one doing it and this is me. Someone reminded me the other day about how they remember me saying back in 2017 that I am working for lifechanging outcomes and I have accomplished just that. While there was no guarantee I would accomplish it (and it isn't there yet), then, just like now, there was no reason to lie.
Some people are all "Hive is awesome" for votes, but am authentically me, as I see this as a record of who I am, a snapshot in time. When I look back, I am not going to find a shiller for votes, I will find my belief system at the time - and so far, it has been remarkably consistent. It has also been pretty accurate in terms of the way the community has progressed and the ecosystem has developed, even if not every minute detail is spot on.
For much of what we need to do to build value, precision is less important than general direction and heuristics to build activity upon. It is because of this that I think that a lot of people will be able to find some value in my posts, as while it isn't a 1:1 fit for their lives, there is enough overlap that they are able to apply some of what I visualize to build clarity into their own approach. I know that for some, there is a certain amount of lamentation that while they read my work here, they chose not to invest themselves a little more actively or be a little more consistent. As said, while I might influence, I am not responsible for doing the work for others, it is on each of us to live our lives as we see fit.
But, what is fit if it what we do doesn't align with where we want to be? I think that is where a lot of us fall over, as we favor the constant attention-seeking dramas of the current moment, without evaluating if spending our time and energy there gets us any closer to where we want to be. So, we become followers of whatever the moment demands us look at, rather than agents making a decision as to where we place our efforts.
I don't know much about decision theory, but I know enough about it to understand that if we aren't making decisions that are aligned with our goals, the chances of reaching them is very slim. It doesn't really matter what our goals are or how they differ from one another, alignment of processes is necessary, which means reflecting on the affecting aspects, the gateways in, the current situation and the possible paths out.
For example, many people fantasize about financial freedom to some degree, yet they do not spend time to understand how their conditioned behaviors, current activities and lack of a process to get there are stopping them. All they see is the desired outcome, but have little to no visibility on all the contributing factors and attributes that affect accomplishment.
They say, only invest into what you know yet most people seem to forget that it is they who is doing the investing that is the major factor. This means that if we do not know ourselves, we are likely to make poor decisions because "what we know" is not necessarily aligned with where we want to be, so when we decide to pull the trigger and invest, it is for the wrong reasons and misaligned with who we are. Which indicates why so many people who have "made it" are fundamentally unhappy, as they made it in an area that doesn't satisfy them.
The world seems full of people looking for purpose, yet most people seem to be looking outside of them first, which leaves them wandering aimlessly and ultimately having their attention pulled to be a follower, rather than inside of themselves to work out why they are looking for purpose at all.
There are so many ways to make some money now, but I see a future where the people who will on average both make the most and be the most content in their lives, are those who are able to generate their wealth by being their authentic selves. It isn't an easy path and it leaves us open to a lot of very personal criticism, but it is far more rewarding than jumping through hoops pretending to be something we are not. Even if we fool others, we still lose to ourselves.
We all have value to add. We all have potential to waste.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]