Are You Writing for the Wrong Reasons?

Tonight, I read a Steemit post that led me to an older Steemit post about getting whale votes.

The article ended by showing where you could find whales, and how you could check what they voted for, and then the author wrote:

Do I recommend doing that?

No. I've been using both sites multiple times, both to analyze peoples behaviour and other things but I wouldn't recommend using them to find a voting pattern. - And why?

First of all, you'll get disappointed if you find a whale who always upvote content related to balloons.. Except when you publish your super-awesome balloon article. -That would basically kill you inside.

Secondly, because you should not look for the rewards. You should focus to be yourself and to bring the best of you. - No matter what niche or article it is. - Always be you. And be the best you can be. Rewards will come, at some point.

Whale or Not - Are You Writing for the Reward?

Do you pick your topics, not because you're interested in them, but because of some kind of reward you're expecting?

That could be:

• Money
• Fame
• Whale votes
• Steem dollars
• Praise
• Power

Is that what motivates you to write?

That Could Work

But it's not the best way to be motivated.

There are two kinds of motivation:

• Extrinsic motivation – doing things for a reward.
• Intrinsic motivation – doing things because you find them meaningful.

A study showed that the intrinsic motivation is much stronger and leads to better results than extrinsic motivation.

You'll find an interesting article about it here.

Especially this paragraph is relevant for us writers:

One challenge is that cultivating and developing intrinsic motivation often requires conscious effort. To study this, researchers randomly assigned groups of creative writers to take a survey that either subtly reminded them of intrinsic or extrinsic motivations for writing. If the writers thought about intrinsic reasons beforehand, their subsequent work was graded as far more creative. In contrast, when writers spent even five minutes thinking about the external motivators for their work, it had the opposite effect.

In other words, if you write on Steemit, because you love writing, because it ads a meaning to your life, and because you love inspiring others, or entertaining, or helping others, then your motivation should last.

Also during times with no votes for great posts, one-cent earnings, and other stuff that otherwise can put a writer off.

So with my best Lucifer smile on, I'm asking you again...

Why Do You Really Want to Write?

For the rewards?

Or because it's the meaningful thing for you to do?