This post was brought to life due to the recent posts of anomadsoul and cwow2.
People often struggle with consistency. They might struggle with writer's block, but the main reason seems to be that people lack motivation. It's extremely stressful and difficult to produce content frequently if you can't see a positive trend. Content creators needs motivation, and rewards are what boosts the motivation level the most.
Content creators needs 'green numbers' to produce regularly. They need to see that their audience grows, that more people engage with their content or that the rewards they earn are increasing.
This is logical, but it is also an issue. The more you earn, the more you will produce. It's the exact same thing on the other side of the coin too. If you don't see your numbers going up, you'll ultimately produce less.
Some authors are producing 4 posts per day and others struggles to produce 1. Some authors struggles to come up with 1 post per week. Now, these people might come from different places, having different backgrounds and whatever, but, the rewards are a huge reason for this.
Like I said in my comment on 
"It would be fairly easy to post 2-4 times per day with rewards of 50-100 Steem(+SP) on each of the posts. That would boost confidence and it gives you tremendous motivation to grind. However, when you earn 5-10 Steem it's not easy to find that same level of motivation (at these low prices), which also makes it difficult to grind. Hence, less content being published."
In my comment on 
"The tricky part, for me personally, is to grow my audience further and to get more continuous support than I have today. It didn't work when I was posting 2-3 times per day and it didn't work when I published once per day either. I seem to be stuck where I am, in terms of growth."
Here's the thing, I am satisfied with the results I have, and I have been here for a longer period than most. I have seen all the ups and downs and I have produced content in various ways. I have tried literally everything during my time on STEEM.
My hard work, my effort and what I have done is what has brought me to where I am today. I can honestly say that it feels that I am no longer being rewarded for the things I do as much as I am rewarded for the things I have done. I have established myself to a degree so that I have started to receive auto-votes, much like many others. The difference is the level of support. I am not being rewarded as much as many others, and this is where this whole "being stuck"-issue evolves.
What I also said in my comment on anomadsoul's post is this:
"I can easily say that my latest article is better than 50% of the content I've read during the last few hours, but the rewards doesn't seem to agree. Instead, I see the same authors earning 200-500% more rewards than me, just like it has always been. Regardless of the content they publish."
I continued to say this:
"I don't complain about my article being rewarded just above $5 at the moment I write this. In fact, I am satisfied, like I have always been. Earning $5 though, when you've spent an hour, two or three..."
"And you see others out there spending ~15 minutes only to get 500% more than you. Well, that doesn't really boost the confidence of any content creator. Especially not when you see that exact thing happen multiple times per day, 7 days per week."
I don't know about you specifically, but I know that many users would find it easier to produce more content if they saw a positive trend. I am not talking about getting $10 instead of $1. I am talking about the little things. One or two votes extra. A few more comments. - But, regularly. I am talking about a steady positive trend.
I could argue that this is the case for most content creators on STEEM. To feel stuck. Even well-rewarded authors are struggling with this, but people ignores to see this because well-rewarded authors earns 5, 10 or even 50 times more than others.
The only thing I noticed when I published more frequently than I do today, was the total amount of rewards I earned. Not because I was lucky enough to receive upvotes from more people, or because I was able to grow my audience. The total amount was different because the supporters I already had continued to support me on multiple articles.
(Another word for that would be to milk the auto-votes.)
I have seen the same authors earn the same amount for a long period of time. A year. Two. It is very rare to see them hit something more than what they do regularly, just like it is for me, and for many others out there.
We would need to change our entire voting habits to see any real changes and even though I am happy with #newsteem and what it has brought us so far, I doubt it will ever solve this.
I know that we have these rare situations were we can see how one author becomes established and generates more rewards than during his early days, but that is how STEEM is supposed to be. You are supposed to prove yourself. You are supposed to work hard, put in tons of effort and push yourself. You are supposed to build your own brand.
There seems to be a underlying limit to how much you are allowed to grow. We obviously have downvotes to adjust things, but I am not talking about that.
If we look at YouTube for instance, we can actually see the growth. You can easily see that a person had 100 views and how that started to increase rapidly. You can see each step on the way. You can see how they go from 100 views to 500. You can see how they go from 500 to 1000 and ultimately how they go from that to 100000+ views.
On STEEM, you can see how someone goes from $0.1 to about $1. You can see older users go from $1 to about $5, like in my case. You can see the more fortunate authors go from $10 to ~$30...
But that seems to be it. That seems to be the limit. Why can't we see a newcomer who've been grinding for 2 months reach $10 and continue to reach $10 on each of their articles after that?
Why can't I reach $25 and continue to rake in $25 on each of my posts after that? Something seems to be missing and I don't know why...
How come that well-rewarded author, who publish 3-5 times per day with earnings of $20-$30 on each post never seems to surpass that? They've been there for months, perhaps even years. Why haven't they been able to break that limit yet?
Many users are fishing for whale-votes because they seem to believe that it will change their lives, and sure, it might have a huge impact, but I would rather grow my daily support. I would rather generate $1 extra on each post, than to have a $50 vote from a whale once per year, or every two years. I want to see a positive trend. A steady growth.
That is to think long term and that is to build your brand. That is dedication with sound values, but how are we supposed to get there? How am I supposed to get there, when well-rewarded users doesn't seem to pass the threshold?
Everyone seems to have a limit to how much they can grow. The limits are different from one person to the next, but there's still a limit. There's a threshold at some point.
If being consistent and producing 4 posts per day can't break that limit, neither can 1 post per day. The subject doesn't seem to matter, and neither will the quality of the post.
