If We Could Start Again?

If you could start your Hive journey again, what would you do differently?

I was thinking a little about this after reading my brother's post. In fact, I often think about how I could have done things differently had I been a little better informed when I entered into blockchain and crypto.

Unlike many perhaps, ~~Steem~~ Hive was my first real experience with either, never having held crypto earlier and having no idea what blockchain was. In fact, when I signed up and even after I was posting, I didn't know I was writing on a blockchain, and didn't understand what crypto was. But of course, it is hard to remain that ignorant for long on Hive, which is also why it is such a great place to get involved.

I started writing, then started (finally) commenting and interacting, asking questions and generally learning about how things worked. The writing wasn't the issue for me, it was all the other stuff and I ended up getting "pretty involved" with a lot over the years, which led me down paths that helped me build my presence, as well as learn even more about the ecosystem and the varied community. As I have always (once I learned enough) said here,

The more you learn, the more you earn.

However, while I have done well in terms of building my profile on Hive, there are definitely things that I wish I had done differently, starting from my very first interaction - Signing up.

1. Should have chosen a different name

Not knowing anything about blockchain or Hive, it meant that I thought I could change my name later. I didn't realize that I would forever be stuck with @tarazkp. If I had been smarter, I would have also pivoted once I found out to @taraz instead, but it took me a long time before I had a second account here at all, because I didn't know it was possible to sign up multiples. However, I also didn't know if I would be successful at this, since I am not a social media person at all, but quickly discovered I am a community person. Stupid name or not, I like being here.

But there are other things that I could have done, had I better informed myself early.

2. Should have bought tokens

For instance, I came in with the hope of making a few extra dollars to pay for special baby formula our daughter required, but I never earned enough to do so. We were very broke at the time, but had I known a little more, I would have scraped together some money from somewhere and powered it up into my account. At the time, there was n2 curation in place, so people with stake were able to earn a fair amount and STEEM (remember that token) was at 6 cents. For 300 dollars, I could have been a dolphin with 5000 tokens powered up. Right now, the cost is 1800 to do the same.

But the most important reason to buy and powerup, is that it was really toward the end of the year when I did it with a few hundred tokens (paying 200€ for them) that I got truly invested and started learning. Having that personal skin in the game made a world of difference for me and I started doubling down on my efforts and soaking in as much information as I could. By a year later at SF3 in Krakow, I was pretty well established as being someone who at least knew something. This was heavily influenced by getting to know @acidyo, who helped me understand a lot of the mechanics of the ecosystem, as well as crypto in general.

3. Should have sold tokens

Similarly to buying, I should have sold tokens at the highs instead of holding everything, because that would have helped me level-up my account far faster. I should be a whale by now easily, but I am far from it because I was so attached to being part of the community, that I didn't want to let people down by selling. However, in taking this approach, I feel that I have let people down too, because I could have been more of a supportive force for those who are here supporting the community now.

4. Should have listened to friends

At SF3 @aggroed (at a pub at 4am) tried to convince me to get into Splinterlands and I said I have given up gaming completely, so it isn't my thing. Other friends tried to get me into it over the early days too and I kept laughing at them as if they were fools. Oops. Now, it is one of the things I really like to do and am hoping it will expand and improve in the coming years to enable millions of people to get in and have some fun in crypto.

5. Should have argued less?

Perhaps I could have argued less with some people around the couple years of the bidbot era, though by the same token, I was able to be part of the process to reform the ecosystem and pivot away from that ridiculousness and stupidity. Some people made a killing selling their votes and the like and they have benefited heavily since from their less than impressive activities, but it was never going to work out from the start, something I brought up from the start, when the first one arrived built by the infamous Bernie - @randowhale. And that one was the healthiest of them, as it gave a random vote of varying weight on a set send amount.

However, all the arguments did help me learn more and get various viewpoints, but also leads to my final one I will mention today.

6. Should have spent less time with time-wasters

Going back to @galenkp's post mentioned above, I should have spent far less time with people who didn't deserve my time. The people who felt they are entitled to something, even though they offer very little to the community. The people who believe they should be reward, despite their behavior. The people who think they know about the way things should be, yet do not actually learn about the mechanics of the ecosystem, the economics, or the community. I spent thousands of hours commenting back and forth with people who would never do more than waste my time, because that was their reward. The argue to feel relevant, because they don't have much of value to add that is actually relevant. I could have used this time far more effectively spending it on people and projects that did deserve my attention.

Can't go back

So, given the chance to start again, I would have done a few things differently, but overall, I believe that I have done well and haven't compromised my own moral positions in order to get quick gains. I have tried to maintain balance and build relationships with people and over the last almost seven years, there are many I connect with on some level almost daily, either through posts, comments or chats.

Regardless of what I could have done, I did what I have done and it has completely changed my life in so many ways, including how I spend my time. I used to be a consumer, who would watch a lot of random crap on screens - now I consider myself a creator first. I also didn't have as good work ethic as I have now, nor did I think about my finances, or know as much about practical economics as I do now. Despite the mistakes, life is better.