HOW FAR HAVE I GONE? LESSONS LEARNT IN THE NEWBIE INITIATIVE AND THE WAY FORWARD (LATE POST)

It has been 6 months since I talked about my short term goals on Hive last. I made a post in March this year outlining a 3 month goal/plan and how I intended to achieve it.

And now 6 months months later, how far exactly have I gone?
To be honest, I haven't gone far at all!
Yeah... disappointing, but it is what it is🤷‍♂️

Notwithstanding, I'll not gloat about how badly I have done, but like every successful person, I'll pick up the bits and pieces from the lessons I learnt and how you might also learn from it too.

The Newbie Initiative organised by @newbies-hive and @starstrings01, has been a good ride so far and I bet anyone who actively engaged in the activities of the initiative in the past months have had quite a lot to learn.

Despite not fulfilling as much as I would want to have achieved, I made some progress with my growth on Hive howbeit small.

WHAT I THINK ABOUT THE NEWBIE INITIATIVE AND THE TASKS

I applied for the Newbie initiative early this year in January.
I had some insight into the Hive platform shortly before joining the initiative, thanks to @jaydr. But I needed some more perspective and intentionality to my growth on Hive and this prompted me to join the initiative.

I think the initiative is a great one. If you still have doubts about joining this initiative, permit me to show a few things that make this initiative worth it.

1. YOUR GROWTH IS FIRST PRIORITY ON THE NEWBIE INITIATIVE

It's truly uncommon to find platforms that are INTENTIONALLY made for your growth on Hive. Except you enjoy direct mentorship from a Hive veteran, Hive is so vast and wide to explore in a way that will ensure your growth on Hive.

The activities in the Hive Newbie Initiative are geared towards stimulating you to build and become a quality Hivean.

Unlike most places on the Hive blockchain where quality is usually King and learners might not get a good hang of engagement, you have the opportunity to make mistakes in the initiative and learn on-the-go.

2. THE COMMUNITY VIBE IS PRESENT

The community vibe on the Newbie Initiative is highly encouraged. This therefore encourages good interactive responses to your concerns and questions without having to wait too long.

Even if the moderators are not available, you'll find a fellow Newbie or a veteran to answer your questions and probably even help you with getting things done on Hive.

3. PERIODIC TASKS AND PROMPTS

From time to time, challenges and tasks, post prompts and assignments are given on the Hive Learners platform for you to engage in, learn from, equip yourself and grow.

If you feel you might not have ideas for content or perhaps don't know how to frame your thoughts to make good content, you can't go wrong if you're truly committed to following through the prompts.

The prompts will not only help you learn how to make posts. They will stimulate you to see that there are myriads of things you can make content on. They will also teach you how to create content.

And the beautiful things is that you learn from everybody on the platform. Asides the moderators there are very great resource persons in and around the initiative.

There is no island of knowledge on Hive
No one knows it all.

4. INFORMATION FLOW AND CONTESTS

Things happen very fast on the Hive Blockchain. Within a short period of time a lot of information can move around.

With the kind of experienced resource persons on the Hive, you get exposure from helpful information they might post.

From scam alerts to new stuff happening on Hive etc. Sometimes, it might even be from a fellow Hivean you met and started following o the platform.

But as much as possible, the activities in the initiatives are almost always tied to your growth.

An example is @ksam who brings information about ongoing Hive contests and activities to the attention of all on the Hive Learners community.

That information alone could open you up to a myriad of opportunities on the Hive platform. I myself have benefited from engaging in contests in the past.

Here is the most recent compilation from @ksam.

Don't sleep on it!

If you are on the Discord channel, you get to chat and find out things on an even more relaxed mode.

4. GET CURATED WHEN YOU FOLLOW THE RULES CONSISTENTLY

At the start of the initiative, things might be a little rough for some people. The usual thing amongst newbies is to want to start making posts that will generate a lot of votes.

Unfortunately, things don't exactly work that way in the initiative. And the same applies generally for Hive.

You might start making great posts today and have little traction. But the key here is consistency.
Consistently follow the rules, engage the Hive platform, make quality comments and posts, don't spam etc.

It's just a matter of time. True Quality (while following the rules) never really goes unrewarded on the longrun on Hive.

Have a reputation for quality engagement!

When you ensure these things, your activities will easily get curated while you're in the initiative. And this will pump you up for even more greatness when you're done with the initiative.

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO IMPOROVE THE INITIATIVE AND HOW

The Newbie Initiative is already on a great path already and I believe it has helped quite a lot of people.

There are only a few things I might suggest we could add to the platform.

1. CONNECTING PEOPLE IN VARIOUS FIELDS

As much as the goal in the Hive Newbie Initiative is to help people grow personally on Hive, things could be taken a not h higher by connecting people in various fields.

Despite the fact that there are various communities on the Hive blockchain, some people still tend to find it a little bit difficult to blend in.

But when fellow newbies who are either learns or professionals in their various enterprises in life meet on the platform, it's much easier for them to look for places and ways to fit in on the platform.

A good example would be a professional hairstylist meeting another stylist in the initiative and learning from each other how they can encourage each other's growth on Hive, find best niches on Hive and perhaps even work together.

There is so much that can happen when like minds in an industry or enterprise meet in an initiative like this.

I have personally met some great people via this initiative, but I'm sure there could be more people I haven't met who do what I do.

The Discord channel may help with this. We could have pages for various industries.

There might be a better way to do this, but I think it will be a step in the right direction if achieved.

2. ALLOWING PEOPLE SUGGEST TOPICS FOR PROMPTS RATHER THAN CURATE TOPICS FROM WHICH THEY CAN CHOOSE

This can be quite controversial. However, I have been in situations where it's so hard to get to write content about some of the topics given for the periodic prompts.

As much as possible it's a learning platform. The logistics of letting people decide the topics from scratch can be cumbersome, but perhaps it might be considered.

3. RESTRICTING THE HIVE LEARNERS COMMUNITY PLATFORM TO RELEVANT CONTENT

This might also be a controversial topic.

I want to believe the function of the Hive Learners Platform is to learn about Hive, engage in the proscribed activities on the platform and post content that is one way or the other related to Hive growth.

But then we have people post some topics that are out of the above definition. This might not be rampant, but I think it still happens.

MY GROWTH SO FAR

Drawing from the points I highlighted in Task 1 some months back, here is how far I have been able to go.

I drew my thought process from the SMART acronym for setting goals.

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Attainable

R = Realistic

T = Timely

Even though I haven't been "so smart enough to follow the SMART outlines" to the letter, here is how I fared:

1. HIVE POWER (HP)

I set out with a plan to reach 1000HP in 3 months with a consistency plan of:

• Posting high quality content at least 3ce a week
• Ensuring my Hive Power is staked on 100% HP rewards on every post

So far I have been able to only muster 790 HP.

2. ENGAGEMENT

Engagement is a combination of different things. But it basically just reflects how you interact with the platform and pretty much involves finding places where you can comfortably and consistently be part of what is going on.

To a large extent I was involved in platforms relating to music, tech and medicine and in fact was part of the initiation process for the MEDHIVE community, Hive's first medical oriented platform, bringing medicine and lifestyle to the Hive audience.

However, my consistency was not quite encouraging and I'll need to work more on that.

3. COMMENTS

This, as always is one of the most important single factors that can ensure one's growth on Hive.

I set out to do 10 comments per day.
But I lacked so much in achieving this over time.

It is obvious how much my comment game dwindled over time over the months.

The graph should be consistent. That's how best one can grow well.

4. FOLLOWERSHIP

This relies largely on your Engagement.

QUALITY PEOPLE FOLLOW QUALITY PEOPLE

And that quality is determined by how well your comments, posts and activities reflect premium.

Nevertheless, quality can't be seen if you are not visible. So that takes us back to the topic of consistency.

You have to CONSISTENTLY ENGAGE for your QUALITY to BE SEEN

Here is how I fare with posts and replies over time:

I set out to get 200 followers in 3 months. But like I said, my consistency game ain't there yet so I was able to muster 131 followers so far after 6 months.

CHALLENGES

It is obvious that I'm still significantly yet to achieve the goals I set out.
There challenges I anticipated I would face.
I planned for them but could not see through them all the time.

1. Time: I work as a full time medical doctor and researcher whilst being a content creator and videographer. That was already a lot.
I initially planned to set out 2 hours for Hive each day, but that didn't work all the time.
On some days I would be in the hospitals all day. The huge brain drain in the health sector in my country also contributes to short staffing.
So it's really a lot of pressure!

A whacked-out doc🤦

Plus I have a huge knack for creating video content. I'm yet to find a great work-balance to get enough time to shoot and edit videos for Hive.
But I am gradually moving towards the Medical Research space more. This should open some more time for my creative side and help me make more content on Hive.

2. Powersupply: I have been able to solve this problem actually. I assembled a 3.8kva petrol generator recently and it has helped with the few content I have put out since I purchased it.
Fuel scarcity in itself is still a factor to consider, but it is at least better when there's fuel.

One can also have back up powerbanks to reduce dependence on fuel generators. That works if you can create content off your phone.

3. Fatigue: Fatigue is real. Like I already mentioned, my work life schedule already takes a big chunk of my time.
The little time I have left... I just want to get some sleep or chill out and de-stress.

WAY FORWARD

Despite these setbacks I experienced, I still had some growth no matter how little.

But the goal here is to grow consistently and markedly.

Every problem surely has a solution and I have come up with solutions you might also get some insight from:

1. Time: There is no better way to solve this than to engage Hive on-the-go. In fact, I made this post from the hospital premises while catching some air from work.
I could set out 2 hours in a day for Hive, but rather than trying to keep to such rigid routines, why not do what I call SOCIAL MEDIA SUBSTITUTION

It's an idea I've always had in my head but not really implemented.

And it simply means substituting the regular social media platforms with Hive.
Rather than check out what's going on on Instagram, Twitter etc, why not substitute those buttons for Hive on your phone.

After all, the social media platforms don't help me build value like Hive does.

So while catching my breath at work by seeing memes on Instagram, I could rather make 1 or 2 comments instead.

That's a WIN-WIN I guess.

That can assure me some everyday consistency I guess.
I could then find 2 hours in the day (if available) to make posts, but at least my commenting game would be on point.

2. Powersupply: Since I already solved this, I could prioritise timing of when I put on my petrol generator to ensure that I never go stranded with power.

If my phone and computer batteries are full, there is no need to put on the generator.

Same applies to powerbanks. Be sure to always have your powerbanks full always. Save for the rainy day.

3. Fatigue: There's no shortcut about this. If you are tired, you have to rest.
It's a rested mind that can make content
Perhaps the 2 hours I put aside for making posts can be after I've had some sleep.

But I gotta rest and so do you!

The CONSISTENCY GAME is a cycle you need to understand. I've seen it work for Hiveans that are doing well.

Once you keep to it, you're bound for success on Hive.

I talked about this cycle while setting out goals 6 months back and I think you might learn from it.
See it here.

I wish you the best on Hive and I wish the incoming Newbies a fulfilling time in the Hive Newbies Initiative.

Have a blast on Hive!

Thanks once again to @starstrings and @newbies-hive for the initiative.
And a big thanks to @theycallmedan and @aliento for the support.
And special thanks to my mentor and friend @jaydr for shedding so many lights on things on Hive.

_{Pictures are mine. Posters were designed with Canva}