The old saying that 'lightning never strikes the same place twice' is a myth that any veteran storm observer or researcher has seen nature defy. Lightning can strike any location more than once. In fact, given enough time, it is actually inevitable. It may take as little as less than ten minutes within a single thunderstorm, or longer than a million years - but lightning will eventually strike the same spot again and again. A strike to any location does nothing to change the electrical activity in the storm above, which will produce another strike as soon as it 'recharges'. The previously hit location is then just as fair game for the next discharge as any other spot.
This information can be found here: http://stormhighway.com/lightning_never_strikes_the_same_place_twice_myth.php
What does all of this have to do with steemit.. And my success..?
I'll give you the full story and I won't leave anything out. What you will read here is the journey I've been on. I went through hurricanes and thunderstorms to get to this point, even though I've only been here for 3 weeks. It's insane! - I've experienced a lot of things.. I've been thrilled, horrified, satisfied and I've really enjoyed most of my time here..
Most of my time..
If you've read my posts during the time I've been here you should've noticed two things.
- Good Content.
- A hardworking person.
That being said, I previously shared my feelings during my first success, I've shared features I would like to see be implemented on steemit and I've shared a bunch of other things.. However, I've also shared one post where I for the first time share my "inner thoughts" so to speak, and I also share that I actually started to doubt myself at one point.
You can read about it in this post
https://steemit.com/steemit/@hitmeasap/why-can-t-i-be-successful-and-earn-usd1000-on-my-posts-when-everyone-else-are-doing-it-i-blew-it-or-did-i
And here's some of the things I wrote in that post..
"I had my chance.. Did I actually blew it?! - I've come to the conclusion that my content probably isn't good enough. At least not for the whales or dolphins."
@cryptogee replied in that post..
"You didn't blow it!
OK, this comment is coming from the fact that I can't see any of your posts from a couple of weeks ago. However, I think the reason why you dropped off, is your posts are just that bit too short, for any of the Whales to auto follow you. You have proved to them you can deliver quality; your posts are always fun to read. However they need to know that if they do start following you, you're not going to drop back down to 500 word or less articles. Aim for about 1500 words in your next 3-4 articles, and I bet you get more cash. This isn't about just stuffing content in there for the hell of it, this is about keeping your fresh entertaining style, and going into a bit more detail. Try it, and see if it works."
What he said, encouraged me even more.. I had already realized that my success in the beginning was nothing more than a fluke.. But it took me a few days to finally come to this conclusion.
I also wrote this reply within that post.
And here's the thing..
The reason I started to doubt myself, or my content, was due to the beginners luck. Let's call it beginners luck as I got the whale-upvotes my first week. I'm not used to this success and I've never been used to it. I'm used to work hard, and to put in a ton of effort in anything I do.. Afterwards, the rewards will come!
It has always been that way for me.. And that is why I started to doubt myself when I experienced something totally different for the very first time. My steemit experience so far is amazing. Especially since I got to experience something I've never experienced before.. The best part is, that I've managed to come out on top again, even after I started to doubt myself.
So, with even more motivation thanks to @cryptogee, I decided to share another post. A better one. I decided to share what I do for steemit and what I plan to do further on.
And it paid off!
No matter what happens now.. I'll never give up. I won't doubt myself again. I know I can go huge. I know I can get great results.. I've had great results several times before!!
If this post ends up in a big fat zero, I'm totally fine with that..
- And you should be too, whenever you experience something similar..
A little bit of luck but most importantly.. Good content. That is what's going to give you cash rewards.
What is good content then..?
- I have no idea. Anything. It all depends on the people!
That is also why you can spend 2 or even 5 hours working on a superb post and get nothing.. And if you had published that exact post a few days later, or perhaps a few days earlier, then it could have gone viral!
How can I be so sure about this..?
- Because a bunch of whales, dolphins and minnows didn't upvote my post.
If you look at "Catch-A-Whale" you'll see that some of the whales didn't upvote a single post yesterday.. Because some of them wasn't even around! - And the ones that actually saw my post, perhaps all of them didn't like it.. Or all of them did, but they didn't like it enough to upvote it more than it already had been.. And that's exactly how steemit should function! - It shouldn't be a "rule of thumb" that the posts already being upvoted to the skies, should get even more upvotes for the sake of it.. Upvotes should be delivered with care and because you truly like the content you upvote. That's how I feel and that's what I believe. And yesterday, I saw it happen to my own post and I'm so excited about it!
- It's not okay to just copy your own content and publish it again, and you shouldn't do something like that. You'll get rewarded for your previous works for each upvote it gets, 4 weeks from the first payment.. There's still hope and there's still time.. Don't give up. I never gave up but I did something way worse..
I started to doubt myself and my own content.. I was lost for a few days and I had no idea about what I should do.. Or what to share.. How could I please all the readers.. How would I get more upvotes.. How could I encourage my readers to discuss things.. What could I do so I'd get more followers.. What could I do to build my reputation .. ??
- I was lost.. Due to the beginners luck I had.. But because of my persistence and due to my experience as a freelancer, I never gave up.. And I never will again. (And yeah, you all helped too! - Feedback & suggestions are always welcome and I thank you all for that!)
- Just be yourself. Don't write stuff you think others want to read.. Write what you want to read.
- Before anyone starts to say things like "don't write for the money" - I'll give you this: I'm Fluent In Whale! - At least if you ask Dory. -I bet you're fluent too. But does it really matter?!
Rewards.. a thing given in recognition of service, effort, or achievement.
That said, rewards can be things like: - Upvotes - Nice replies - Feedback - Prize money
Thank you #steemit for this tremendous wakeup call.. Thank you for all the awesome replies, nice feedbacks, and all the upvotes I've got so far. I appreciate it. You all deserve a medal.. As I can't give you medals I'll instead share even better quality in the nearest future!
I deserve it. And so do you. Keep up the good work and wait for the lightning to strike again!
Best Regards,
hitmeasap
I'm brand-spanking new to this & was very motivated by your message. Thank you. I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to be doing, but reading & learning! :-)
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I'm also new to this. Still finding my feet. Still trying to work out how this whole thing works. Still trying to think of something interesting to post about.
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What to post..
That's probably the main question most of the users have.. But I seriously think it's one of the most time consuming question to think about.. You'll never get a good answer for that question.
Write about yourself. Express your feelings. Write good stories. Share photos from your last vacation and explain why it's so damn awesome to be swimming with dolphins.. Tell people why you are on steemit. Describe why you'll be here and what people can expect from you. Explain what you expect from steemit or steemit users. Inspiration for content is literally everywhere. In your home, outside the window. Everywhere. Just pick one and get starting! :)
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Thank you. I'm glad it gave you some motivation :)
Read & learn. That's two essential factors for starters. I think it's great that you start by doing that! However, I would recommend that you publish your first post rather quickly, as you'll gain experience by doing that. You can't just go with what other people thinks. You'll need to get some experience for yourself too. It's always easier that way. I wish you the best of luck! :)
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Once there are more users, content will have a greater impact than "luck"
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Thanks for writing this, I'm in the bottom of the Ferris wheel now. Just needed a little encouragement. I had a couple ok posts but a lot of zeros after that. I'm a hard worker in my career, I just need to transfer it to my writing, give myself a couple extra hours. Only question I have is, have you noticed if time of day has affected upvotes at all?
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I wish you the best of luck, and the only way is UP! :)
Honestly, I don't think the time matters as much as one could think.. Obviously, I believe time matters to get that "fluke results" so to speak.. But one shouldn't aim for that kind of results at all. When you've built your reputation and when you become more established, then I don't think time matters at all.
You could look at "catchawhale" to spot the whales, but I wouldn't bother with that too much, as I truly believe that could actually have a negative impact on you. Just think of it this way. You look at catchawhale and see ALL the whales being active. They've been active for 1 minute and just started to upvote peoples NEW content.. What if you posted yours at that time.. And NONE of them upvoted your post.. I believe that would have a huge negative impact and I believe that would hurt you more than anything. Especially if you did this several times and never got any upvotes.
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Very interesting, original and creative post. I hope to see your future post. :D
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Thank you very much :)
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This is very motivational and inspiring! Congrats on all your successes and good luck!
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Thank you very much, I appreciate it and I'm glad it's inspiring! :)
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Good content on SteemIt apparently is content with at least 10% quality so it can get upvoted by 300 people who don't care about the post, but just want the curation rewards.
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Hey @calamus056, thanks for dropping by!
Well, I agree with you.. About 50%. I do believe that there's a bunch of people who doesn't bother reading the content. They upvote whatever they can, just for the sake of money. With nothing else in mind.
However, I also believe that there's some people who upvote content due to one reason alone. And that would be the fact that they liked the content.. I've actually seen it a few times already. Some of the whales are upvoting content published 4-5-6 days ago.. Posts that had a payout of $1 or $2 .. And they upvote that. That has to be because they truly liked the content.. Right?
With that said.. I would love to see that upvotes was made ONLY due to the fact that people liked the content. That way, more quality content will be published too!
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There are too many problems with the algorithms. We can't blame the users :)
On my profile @calamus056 i have many good posts about the algorithms.
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Well.. I'm not in to all this technical stuff so I can't say.. but it would be amazing to see content being upvoted for the actual content and not for the rewards. At all times.
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Absolutely!
By the way i have left out most technical stuff in my articles ;)
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Unfortunately, I don't have enough SP to have a great impact on your posts, but I did upvote them. You seem like a cool guy and I appreciate people who advertise their posts the right way. :)
I wish you the best of luck with your future posts too!
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Thank you.
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Touching story. I too have had to overcome the problem of being the luck guy... oh no wait. I'm the guy who killed his wife, his best friend, and cut off his son's hand. My bad.
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Well, even though I don't believe you've done that.. You sure have some imagination. I bet you'll do great on steemit! :)
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