Clarifying My Actions
It now feels urgent and important to be intentional about how I use the time I give to Steemit. Yes it’s really fun to just dive in and let myself be pulled towards this and that comment, reply, post, convo, but there are a few realities that are nudging me to use my time and power more responsibly.
Firstly I have limited time to give so I want it to reflect my priorities. Lately I'll lift my head to find that hours and hours have been gobbled up by unstructured curation and communicating. This is all well worthwhile, but far too often I find that my precious time is gone and I haven't used any of it for content creation which for me is essential to my well-being or days have gone by and I haven't checked in with one of the groups I'm involved with.
The other reason is a wake-up call that came yesterday and added a priority to my list. I came across a thread of posts and comments from a minnow who had given Steemit a go and after a respectable effort was saying goodbye and giving up. He was frustrated and bitter and believed the system was rigged and didn’t work as promised.
The system isn’t rigged per se, but what is true is that there are so many users these days that it can be easy to simply stick to our friends and communities.
much of the time I spend on Steemit during the cold months happens in this crappy old chair next to Lucy
In the early days, the pool was smaller so we found ourselves browsing new posts more often so fewer people went unnoticed. But now keeping up with the people I already support and with the various groups I’m involved with is a formidable task and therefore searching for new talent often falls by the wayside.
Meanwhile, the there are thousands of new adopters who are getting lost in the fray and so many give up. Yes many are posting subpar quality and instagram-like posts but there are many others who are posting excellent content.
These people need support and acknowlegement.
So, I realized that right here, right now, it's important to commit 30 minutes a day of my Steemit time to finding and supporting new quality posts.
Surfing to Support Minnows + Supporting each other is win-win
I can’t help everybody but if each of us were to support some new posts every single day, together we could really help these individuals stick it out long enough to find their people, develop their presence and eventually make some money! And the good news is that this will simultaneously raise the quality and value of Steemit.
After all the value of Steem has everything to do with the collective value of the platform. If we continue such low user-retention levels, no one benefits, whereas if we gain a reputation for excellent content and loyal users, it brings a greater value, investment and cache which is good for all of us.
When we help an individual, we help the platform and wind up helping ourselves, it’s win-win circle.
With this in mind, I return to prioritizing my time.
So,….how to best use the 2-4 hours a day I have?
The equation is different for everyone, but here’s what my picture looks like. I do my best writing while my mind is fresh so I give my mornings to this and then I can use smaller snippets of time or the evening when I’m more tired to curate, comment and do the final logistics of putting together the post I’ve written.
Morning
1.5 hours Writing content, editing, planning
I usually have a few posts in the works so I’ll choose one and edit it to the next level as well as to start a new one if I’m compelled. Sometimes I’ll use some of this time to loosely strategize what my posts will be for the next week or 2.
1.0 Communications., comments and keeping up with my group commitments
During the day when I need a break from my studio work:
.25-.5 Browse for great content among minnows and new Steemians
.25-.75 If needed, taking photos for my posts as the opportunities arise
0-.5 keeping an eye on crypto values and trading, transferring monies
In the evening after my work day and dinner:
1-3 hours Curation, communication, gathering photos, putting together posts
(depends on how long my work days was and whether I have evening plans)
This time is spent on curation and on uploading my photos to use in posts from my cameras or archives, and putting together the parts of a post so it’s cued up to press post the next morning.
I'm going to give this a try and do some further fine-tuning as needed, and hopefully my time will become a better reflection of my priorities!
Love to hear from you, any thoughts? Any practical tips? Do you plan your time on Steemit? What does it look like? And do you designate time for supporting quality work from unknown Minnows? Don't be shy, leave a comment!
Thank you for your support, it makes my life as an artist possible!
