For my 1,000th blog post since August 23, 2017 (yea, I hustle), here's the breakdown of my grind to earn my way to 5,000 SP.
The Numbers:
Starting Point On ~3/9/19: 1,400 SP needed at 166 days out requiring 8.43 Steem/day.
Today: 795.11 SP needed at 121 days out requiring 6.57 Steem/day. (Currently 4,204.904 SP)
Pro: I've reduced the amount of daily Steem needed by 22%.
Pro: NO self-voting since the start, and for a while before then too. I help others instead of myself.
I've been sticking to about 1-2 posts a day. I've slowed down on daily jokes, which are a lot of fun for me, and tried to write about deeper/more diverse topics to reach more people.
With my daily curation pulling in about 1-1.5 Steem per day, this leaves me needing about 5.07-5.57 Steem/day from blogging and engaging others.
At today's prices, this is an insignificant amount money, but I set a goal to earn all my Steem, and will stick to it until I hit it.
Proof Of No Self-Voting:
8 is my favorite, lucky and baseball jersey #. Trifecta
Prior proof, 5 day gap missing, but no self-voting during that either.
Gratitude:
Heavy % support has some from those seen leading in the pie charts, while many others have been a great help chipping in to account for the rest of my progress. Every vote means a lot. Several people have added me to their auto-voting to keep me growing, which is awesome.
I prefer not to single anyone out because everyone helps as they can, but the charts scream that I have to thank 
THANK YOU.
Notes:
I recently went to the Global Blockbuilders Conference and didn't make a single blog post for 8 days. The longest gap I can remember before then was likely 2.5 days, so this was a long time for me. This set me back a bit, but I prioritized having fun and spending time with people I don't see often.
I had two relatively highly rewarded personal thank you posts after this trip, which made up for the time gap in spades.
I seem to get more traction when I open up and let my thoughts flow about others or Steem, versus posting about my thrifting, recycling, jokes, drums and/or baseball (ironically many of my biggest freakin passions). While they're not always profitable posts for the time I put into them, I won't chase the money and post what people seem to reward best. I want to attract those who are like-minded so I enjoy the experience and connections I have.
I've powered everything up as I've earned it on this challenge and will continue to do so until I hit 5,000.
I'm happy that the Steem/SBD ratio is very favorable right now. This has helped me quite a bit.
For those who had similar SP tallies/goals that were keen on following my little trek, here you go. Let me know how you've progressed.
At this pace, I don't think it'll take me until August 23rd to hit my goal, but I'm going to keep that date as my horizon for now so I don't put pressure on myself for what should be a fun experience.
As mentioned in previous posts, all of my SP is earned and I did cash out/swap at least 1,500 Steem as mostly liquid SBD along the way at much higher prices. I've never powered down for even a second.
No bid-bots.
I keep debating putting a healthy portion of my BTC and/or ETH into a new Steem account to help this place grow, but just can't seem to get myself to do it. Why am I so damn stubborn and afraid to let go of my blue chips? While I could scoop up a good amount of Steem to make a dent around here, it feels too risky right now, but I suppose that's where the future reward would come from. I'd love to hear thoughts and opinions on this from the peanut gallery.
Historical counts before hitting "Post" = 999 posts, 7,386 comments, 10,518 replies. I wish I had more to show for that, but it's a long game.
I thought I had more than 1,000 posts already, but I'm pulling from SteemWorld now.
Wish my luck on the next round!
