Let's discuss goal setting for newbies on Steemit.

• I'm on my 18th day using Steemit
  so I'm still a newbie
  • but I've set a few goals
  • and I've reached a few goals
    • I have many more goals
• Are you new to Steemit?
  • Have you set any goals?
    • You should.

Keep reading to find out:

• Why you should set goals
• A few good baby step goals for newbies
• How to prove Steemit is 😎 Too Good To Be Ignored! 😎
• Why you should try to catch the attention of newbie support groups
• Getting started is nothing more than slinging mud on the wall and seeing what sticks
• The importance of reaching 15 SteemPower
  • HINT: It turns you into He-Man...
• How much SteemPower it takes to be able to give your 2 cents
• Importance of upvoting and Voting Power
• Why WizarDave plants flowers...

💡 The Importance of Goal Setting

2 or 3 decades ago, I discovered how important goal setting is.

• I forget what book I first read about this study,
  but I've since heard speakers like Zig Ziglar and Brian Tracy tell of a study done at Harvard.
  • 2 things you might want to do to help make you successful.
    1. Read books. Positive thinking, goal setting, time management, ...
    2. Listen to motivational speakers like Zig and Brian.
       There are plenty of YouTubes out there.
       Steemit has a lot of good bloggers, vloggers and podcasters who will motivate you...
  • If you do that, you will learn Goal Setting is an important piece of your success puzzle.

Results of a study, in 1979 at Harvard, on students in the MBA program

• They asked
  Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?
  • 3% had written goals
  • 13% had goals but not written down
  • 84% had set no goals
• 10 years later
  • The 13% were earning twice as much as the 84%
  • But here's an amazing discovery!!!
    • The 3% who had written their goals down were
      earning 10 times as much as the other 97%!

NOTE: While doing a bit of research for this article, I ran across a site that says this study cannot be verified.

Regardless... People who set goals accomplish more.

• People who write down goals accomplish even more...

Newbie Guide to setting goals on Steemit

I will share my goal setting experience so far.

• If you want to use some of these goals, GO FOR IT!

My first goal was to prove Steemit wasn't Too Good To Be True (TGTBT)

• Seriously, Didn't the promise of 'Get paid for creating and curating content' sound a bit TGTBT when you first heard about it?
  • My first Steemit goal was to find out if you could actually get paid for creating and curating content.
  • So I created my introductory post
    • 7 days later I got my first Steemit payout!
    • You can read about my excitement in my Keep on Truckin' post.

Steemit is 😎 Too Good To Be Ignored! 😎

That meant I could rationalize investing my time into this platform.

• I could set some more goals for Steemit
  • I could work toward those goals
    • Every day since, I've been seeing results.

🔑 One key to getting off to a fast start on Steemit

• Don't wait 7 days after your first post to get more involved.
  • That would put you a week behind because you lost 6 days of productivity.
• I jumped right in from day one.
  • Writing a few posts nearly every day.
  • Upvoting posts and comments I found interesting.
  • Commenting on other people's posts.
  • Looking for interesting people to follow. Or good coaches...
    • And nearly every day, I've collected some payout from the pool.
• These payouts have been small. A penny here, a penny there
  • But pennies turn into nickels and nickels into dimes
    • And every once in awhile you get a nice payout.

I kept reading about all these curating groups that help out newbies, so I set a new goal.

• Catch the attention of one of these groups.
  • And it worked.
    • I used the #ocd-resteem tag on my Thinking outside the box concerning post design... post.
  • And I caught their attention.
    • I actually won the OCD Nomination of the Day in their Issue 191
  • They upvoted me and re-steemed me.
• Result?
  • My best payout so far of $15.84.
    • Thanks @OCD!!!.

I didn't have a clue what I was doing!
But I was successfully setting and reaching Steemit goals.

🔑 You don't have to wait until you totally understand how Steemit works, to start working toward your success!

• Don't get Paralysis from Analysis
  • Yes, learn all you can by reading all the great information you can consume here on Steemit
    • But just get going. Start running and don't look back
• All I was doing was slinging mud on the wall and seeing what stuck.
  • I was Learning by doing
    • While I was Learning from others by reading all the posts I could...

Set the goal of 15 SteemPower without delegation!

Look at your Wallet.

• If your SteemPower is 15 or below, here's what happens.
  • When you first start out with Steemit, Steemit delegates you SteemPower to give you 15 total.
• As you start getting payouts,
  • your SteemPower goes up
  • the delegated SteemPower goes down
    • End result you still have 15 SteemPower
• Once you reach 15 SteemPower without delegation, here's what happens
  • You get a payout and your SteemPower rises above 15.
    • Simple enough but it took me awhile to understand this.

I just reached this milestone of a goal for me. (Day 17 on Steemit)

• Yesterday's payouts put me past 15 SteemPower without any delegation from Steemit.
  • That means additional payouts will actually add to my SteemPower.

At this point, I have the power.

• SteemPower gives you influence on the platform.
  • It allows you to reward (upvote) content you like.
    • Meaning there will likely be more articles written like what you just upvoted.
• That is the power of influence.

Image Source

Yes, at this point your influence is very small compared to dolphins and whales,

• but, it is still influence.
  • If enough minnows combine their influence, it can be a powerful force.
  • Use your influence wisely,
    • upvoting content you would like to see more of.
    • upvoting content that helped you in some way.
• Example: If you are a gardener, seek out quality gardening posts to upvote.
  • That will give the poster more incentive to write more gardening posts...
  • It will show other gardeners that they should write more gardening posts
    • End result? You will have more quality gardening information to read....

Accumulating SteemPower helps get you noticed.

• Right now my upvote isn't even worth a penny.
  • So, payouts don't noticeably increase when I upvote them.
    • That's why I set my next goal...

My 2 cents goal

My 2 cents

• Since this is a worldwide network,
  not everyone may understand this saying,
  so let me explain.

According the The Free Dictionary
give (one's) two cents
To share one's opinion or point of view for whatever it may be worth, generally when it is unasked for.

So, my goal is to gain enough SteemPower to give someone 2 cents when I upvote them.
How much SteemPower does it take?

https://steemnow.com/ has a nice Upvote Calculater.

• Using it, I discovered it takes 54 SteemPower to give your 2 cents.
  • There it is. That's my next SteemPower goal!

Speaking of Power, Let's discuss Voting Power

A common mistake of newbies like me is to relate the upvote to Facebook's Like button.

• I upvoted posts and comments to let the author know I liked their work.
  • Next thing I knew, my voting power was down to about 20%.
    • So not only was my influence (SteemPower) low,
      I made it even lower by letting my Voting Power drop so low...
• I hate to think I wasted my votes
  • But, I guess, I really did...
    • My influence on some of these upvotes meant absolutely nothing.
• For instance, upvoting a post older than 7 days does absolutely nothing!
  • They do not influence anyone into helping make Steemit better.
    • All they do is let the world know I was just another newbie who doesn't have this platform figured out...

Here's how upvoting influences your Voting Power

• Every time you upvote, you lose 2% of your Voting Power.
  • Your Voting Power renews at a rate of 20% a day.
    • So you can vote about 10 times a day and maintain near 100% Voting Power.

So my new Upvoting Goal is...

• 1st, I have to get my Voting power back up to 100% or at least very close...
• Then I will seek out 11 quality pieces of content a day
  • Yes 10 x 2% = 20%,
    and that's how much it renews everyday
    but you can sneak that 11th vote in and still maintain 100% Voting Power...
    • Abracadabra
      Don't look so surprised 😲 that I know how to spell abracadabra
      I am WizarDave after all... LOL

Byproducts of Setting Goals.

My #1 Steemit Goal: Produce quality content

• I enjoy sharing information.
  • I'm not a know it all,
    • but I do have some common sense to share.
  • I'm not a comedian,
    • but I can make people smile sometimes.
  • I'm not a motivational speaker,
    • but I can encourage you to set goals and work toward your dreams...
• I've been sharing information since about '95
  when I discovered the Internet
  and became a webmaster.

🌺 A WizarDave quote: 🌼

I do not plant flowers
to enjoy looking at their beauty
even though I do enjoy that very much!
I plant flowers
to enjoy watching you
enjoying looking at their beauty...
I enjoy that even more!!!

So what might be the byproduct of setting this goal?
It seems as I look around at successful people here on Steemit

• There is a direct correlation to the # of followers and how nice their wallet looks.
  • 1 byproduct of my above stated goal likely will be a nice looking wallet. (making a few bucks...)
    • This is a goal that will be reached if I am successful at my #1 goal...
  • Another byproduct is I will likely pick up a few followers along the way.
    • Hmm how to explain something???
  • My goal is not to have a huge bunch of followers.
    That is not important to me at all.
    • That's not to say my followers aren't important to me. They are!
      As time permits, I poke around their blog and comments to try to get to know them.
  • What's more important to me is
    passing along good information
    or making someone smile
    or be encouraged.
• So, I don't have a goal to reach x amount of followers.
  • I think that will just be a natural byproduct of reaching for my other goals...

Another very important byproduct of all of us setting and working toward our goals:

• Steemit becomes the #1 social network
  • Replacing #Facebook
    • because I'm Fed Up with Facebook

Conclusion

It is important to set goals.

• Aim for the bullseye, but realize you still pick up points if you miss. (This is a darts analogy...)

Get started now!

• Don't have Paralysis from Analysis
  • Sling some mud on the wall and see what sticks!
    • Learning by doing...

Realize Steemit is an opportunity

• You can cash in on this opportunity
  • Realize Steemit is NOT a get rich quick scheme
    • First you have to learn to crawl, then walk, then you can run...

Keep on Truckin'

• Set some goals
  • Figure out a plan to reach those goals
    • Work your plan.

Share your common sense

• Everyone is an expert at something
  • You can do this

Steemit is 😎 Too Good To Be Ignored! 😎

• A year from now,
  you will hear people say
  I wish I would have known about Steemit a year ago.
  • You are here now.
    Take advantage of the Steemit opportunity!
    • Build your dreams
      One Goal at a Time