You're a little minnow. Someone has just thrown you into a magnificent ocean full of riches. Although you're super excited to explore, you don't know what's hiding in here so you go careful. After looking around you can only find some cute dolphins, a few gigantic whales and lots and lots of other minnows; no sharks. So you embark on the adventure with confidence, but shortly discover that between all these wonderful creatures, you have no friends! Everyone is swimming past without even noticing you. 
Disappointment settles in and you have no desire to keep going. You settle into a corner and quietly watch the other fish swimming around enthusiastically, wondering what keeps them so excited.

http://i.imgsafe.org/d9bd5dc152.jpg

### So you wrote a few brilliant posts that received no attention and you start losing interest. At this point you have two options: either give up and start doing something else, or fight hard to stay motivated.
## If you chose option 2, good for you. But now, how do you do that?

# Method 1: Understand the ocean

The first thing you need to do in order to stay sane on Steemit is to understand why your post may not be successful. You will be inclined to start wondering whether your article was good enough, maybe you're not as skilled as you thought. The truth is that even though your post was brilliant, there are high chances that it simply got lost. There are thousand and thousand of other minnows swimming around you and the reality is that for a gigantic whale, at first glance we all look pretty much the same. Try not to fall into the trap of doubting yourself, because you will quickly lose all confidence in your abilities and that's pretty hard to get back. As soon as you understand how easy it is for a great article to get lost in the ocean, you can get over a failed post with a lighter heart.

# Method 2: Give up the greed before you begin

The reward system is probably the reason we're all here and not on Reddit, so it's gonna be pretty hard to overlook it. But if you try no to focus on it and enjoy the experience of writing and sharing, it will be easier to keep writing even if your articles don't have great success. 

# Method 3: Keep getting better

This is where Steemit can help you grow. Your post didn't make it to trending and you're pretty frustrated. The likely reason is that it simply got lost, but after you give it a second look you can think of a few improvements you could make. Your next post will therefore be better. If you have the incredible strength to keep this up and constantly improve yourself, chances are after a while you will be so good that your posts will be pretty unmissable. But who can get over failure so many times and stay sane?

## If you chose option 1

Even if you have lost all interest in writing and there's no way to get it back, don't worry. You're still part of the ocean, so stick around and curate. You can have your say and make a difference from your hide place by supporting or silently judging everyone else. You can become pretty successful and be the one to spot future dolphins, and that will also satisfy your natural greed. 
As long as you understand how things work, there's really no way to lose in this ocean. In the end, there are no sharks so you're pretty safe.