In 2017, I achieved (almost) all of my Steemit goals: reached reputation 60+, got consistently good payouts for most of my content, accrued over 1,000 Steem Power from my posts, even made it to the trending page a few times! So all in all, I could say 2017 was definitely a success as a Steemian.

Old-school Irime, back then when I used to cook and dine with my date Hannibal Lecter (yes, I am geeky like that sometimes, don’t make it awkward).

The only goal I had set for myself that I didn’t reach was to get 1,000 followers by the end of the year, which I can only blame myself for, given that I have not been so active commenting and interacting with Steemians outside of the ones I already follow.

However, I have to say that one of the things that have made Steemit different from other platform is not the quantity, but the quality of interactions here: I have met some really amazing people here, and I regularly get interesting, thoughtful and involved comments from these remarkable people. So cheers to that! That is something we should strive to maintain and cultivate even further in this New Year!

Another thing that is unprecedented for me is that I have been creating content consistently for the six months or so since I joined. This is a first, since I have blogged before but it always ended in the same way, with my enthusiasm dwindling and the stream of posts gradually drying up until one day I abandoned the enterprise for good. Being completely honest, I reckon it was the clear and tangible monetary gratification that kept me consistent.

Previously it was easy to feel like I was just spending my time and effort into something that provided little to no returns, and that is something that makes Steemit really unique and exciting. I really hope that the forces of good win the battle against the leechers and abusers of the platform, because the potential is clear for Steemit to become a huge global success! If we keep growing and improving we could be part of a genuine revolution on the way people create and interact with online content.

That said, I thought about the ways in which I would like to improve my participation here, so I came up with a little list of:

Steemit resolutions – 2018

Becoming a more consistent content creator.

I really admire people like @suesa, that day in and day out manage to write and publish quality content. I honestly don’t know how they do it, but the result is spectacular!

I have to admit that up until this point I have relied a lot on “strokes of inspiration” to write stuff instead of setting a routine and discipline myself to write consistently, not just whenever I feel like it.

Also, as a perfectionist I struggle with constantly throwing ideas and half-written articles to the bin because I feel they are not good enough (ironically, my article about the debunking of the mouse aluminium trial related to autism, which has been my most popular and highest rewarded one so far, was going to be one of those discarded ideas). This year I want to just put my stuff out there without overthinking it!

Commenting on the spot.

I often do this thing were I read somebody’s article and think “oh, that’s really good, I also would like to add a couple of things to it” and instead of doing it on the spot, I wait to do it later and then life gets busy/I get distracted and later becomes never. Say no to procrastination!

Interact more with the community.

As I mentioned before, lately I have been mostly interacting with the same people I am familiar with already (just like in real life, ha!), but interacting with other newly discovered Steemians would be another way of enriching my experience here and also making my little contribution into nurturing and helping this community grow. I find that –besides the money, hehe– these interactions are what keeps us motivated and enthusiastic about this place, so let’s keep it up!

Support and grow with my niche.

This year I want to become more involved and become more of an active member in the main communities I am part of – in this case, I would say that’s Science and Martial Arts/BJJ. I want to help them grow and become bigger, better and more diverse! So my contributions and support will be mostly directed to them.

Experiment with new content.

Lately I have been toying with the idea of making videos to post here on Steemit. This would be mostly for the Martial Arts/BJJ content as well as the miscellaneous cultural stuff that I post sometimes.

I have zero experience editing and putting vlogs together, but this could be a good time to start! I would also like to try and challenge myself to become comfortable in front of the camera – because, you know, introverts.

What do you think? Those are my Steemit goals for 2018… have you thought about yours? I would love to read about your ideas to make this new year even better than the last one!

Cheers to a stellar new year,

Irime