It's been six months since I signed up for steemit. My overall experience has been rewarding, having learnt so many things, which I wouldn't have been challenged to learn, had I not signed up. My view of steemit as a school have expressed a couple of times on this platform. Besides, steemit is a place where you and I can leave good legacies, which posterity would benefit from. It's all about adding value to make the world a better place for us all to live in.  

 Appreciation

I am deeply thankful to Hive account@ned and the entire team, who envisioned steemit and brought that vision to fruition, where we are all beneficiaries.  To all witnesses, who ensure that the entire steemit blockchain runs properly, I say thank you and appreciate your hard work. Many thanks to all my 700+fans/followers, those who have supported my growth here, through resteem of my content, comments, upvotes, negatively weighted votes (downvotes), criticisms, gifts of steem backed dollars (SBDs) and steem,  Special thanks to Hive account@stellabelle (my steemit heroine), Hive account@surpasinggoogle(Steemit witness, CEO Hive account@steemgigs),  Hive account@oluwoleolaide (Chief facilitator of Hive account@steem-lagos team),Hive account@ogoowinner, Hive account@sweetestglo-eu,Hive account@gbenga, Hive account@bat-junior, Hive account@steve1122,  the Nigeria and Africa curation team,  Euronation led by Hive account@eurogee and  Steemit Nigeria Community (SNC) whatsapp group members.  You are all very dear to me. I would not conclude this appreciation segment without stating that my young friend Hive account@honourmaus, who is the team lead of LAUTECH Steemit Community, celebrated my 1/2 a year steemit anniversary with this awesome post. Thanks a million!!! I love you all. 

Delayed Gratification

Last week, I wrote a post titled- How Goal Setting And Delayed Gratification Has Brought Me This Far In Steemit.

The aspect of goal setting with some practical tips was dealt with last week in that post. Today, I would be discussing delayed gratification as the second key practice that brought me this far in steemit. Before I start, it would be good to have an understanding of what the phrase, delayed gratification, means. 

Image source

The above quote by Brain Tracy gives credence to the  meaning of delayed gratification in psychology. Honestly, if you want to succeed in life generally, not just it steemit, begin to practice delayed gratification. This is an open, well established, secret that brings about great rewards. 

 Original photo shot of my new steemit coffee/tea mug  

How I Practiced Delayed Gratification; My First ''Power Down''

It would have been the easiest thing in the world for me to click the power down button and start to power down my steem rewards, howbeit little, and all of my investments. However, I chose not to, the reason is not because I am rich or I do not need money to buy some fancy things that my contemporaries have. I chose not to, because I have a bigger vision of what my investments here can do for me. I remember  how I was discussing with an acquaintance about my net worth in steemit. He quickly told me

You can buy a car with that money you have!

Well, with a smile on my face, I told him that I wasn't going to do that now, since I do not consider owning a car my priority at the moment. Please, don't get me wrong. Owning a car is a key priority to some, but a liability to others. In most cases, a car is not a luxury, but a necessity. When your family is with you, you wouldn't want to be jumping from one train /tram/bus to another. 

My first power down of steem was initiated about a month ago (in my 5th month), about a week before my trip to Vienna, Austria. So, the main reason for the power down was to have enough money to cover my travel expenses. 

Screen shot before ''power down'' on my blog, sourced from here

Screen shot after ''power down'' on my blog, sourced from here

When we calculate the difference in my steem power (SP) just before power down and after, that is (5,632.048 - 5,204.191) 427.857 Steem. This number (427.857) is clearly shown on my data in steemdb.com created by witness Hive account@jesta. I had done all my calculations before initiation of the power down process, having in mind that I wouldn't want to, at any time, have less than 5,000 SP in my account.  Moreover, after withdrawing needed steem to the exchange, converting it to steem and transferring to my bank account, I powered up what was left. Hopefully, I would continue to delay gratification, in this regard, so as to achieve my desired goals in steemit and in life generally. 

Some Practical Tips For Redfish To Help Delay Gratification

• Maintain a balance of at least 130 steem in your account. I guess you don't want to only benefit from whales, orcas, dolphins and minnows here, but also want to be able to give back at least 2 or 3 cents. Note: If steemit were to be a traditional bank, you would be compelled to leave a minimum balance, termed maintenance fee. 
• Hold fast to your regular job, if  you have one. Don't think of quitting your regular job because of steemit. 
• Build and have other sources of income, that would generate money for you, so that you don't have to be fully dependent on what you earn from steemit. 

Food for thought: Upcoming hard forks, might bring about some changes in the steemit protocol that may or may not be favorable for steemians in the redfish category, as small investors. 

Please, I am not Hive account@ned Scott, the CEO of steemit, neither am I an official steemit witness, so don't take my word for it. My concern is for you to grow, first to become a minnow and even become a whale. That is the reason from my creating mission to minnow (MTM) challenge in the Hive account@redfishpillar project. 

The customized divider was designed for me by, Hive account@outhori5ed and generic footer sourced from here. Other image sources have been properly credited. 

Tomorrow will be the 3rd episode of  Ask Me Anything About Steemit Wednesday (AMAWED) on Hive account@redfishpillar's blog, beginning at same peak time 10.30 am Central European Time (CET). See  episode 2 here, in case you missed it. 

Final selection of winners of MTM challenge #3, would be done this weekend (Friday/Saturday, 22nd or 23rd September, 2017). Stay tuned for announcement of winners of the challenge and contest. 

Remember, Steemit In Nigeria (SIN) conference is in 45 days time (2nd and 3rd of November, 2017). See latest update by Hive account@ehiboss. We have to begin to book the travel tickets and accommodation for emerging winners of the MTM contest to SIN. 

Are there ways you have practiced delayed gratification on steemit? Please, share with us. I would like to hear from you again. 

   

                    

Follow Hive account@maryfavour & Hive account@redfishpillar

Thanks for taking time to read!