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The other day, I cracked a tooth and will unfortunately have to find a dentist for a repair. It is a molar and isn't visible, but it feels really weird. The only other tooth I have chipped is my front tooth, after being chased by a brother, slipping on a *Golden Book* and smashing my face into a tile floor. Out of five children, no set of teeth have escaped childhood unscathed - cracking teeth is like a right of passage in my family. 

<center>![Hive bee.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/tarazkp/C6agBswa-Hive20bee.png)</center>


But, that is not the "skin of my teeth" I am talking about, this is:

<center>![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/tarazkp/y1JzyP2C-image.png)</center>

As after a long day working on the house and then replying to comments from the previous day (I am always behind at the moment), I came very, very close to missing my "publishing deadline" which of course a self-imposed line in the sand. In the last 3.5 years of being on this blockchain, I haven't missed a day of posting:


<center>![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/tarazkp/JGQs6Eai-image.png)</center>

>Out of a possible 202 weeks, I have posted every day of the week 193 times.
Out of a possible 46 months, I have posted every day of the month 43 times.

While it was 2am in human time, I work on blockchain time, so I skimmed in with only a minute thirty left before I turned into a pumpkin. I don't actually think anything bad happens if I don't post for a day, but I do see it as part of the Hive game for me, where it is a stat to maintain and I would probably suspect that out of the unautomated or shitpost accounts, I probably have the longest unbroken track record - save days where there was chain downtime, which accounts for some of the missed weeks and months I think. 

The post is of course not the only factor, it still has to be something that I think is worthy enough to put o the chain with my name attached to it. It might be hard to find community consensus on what is quality or valuable, but it is very easy to make a personal judgement call and know whether what is posted is to personal standard. There is a lot of room to play with in this area and it is going to depend on other factors that aren't necessarily seen by the audience. 

We all have good and bad day, busy days, lazy days and days that we think might destroy us emotionally, if not physically - so when it comes to personal quality standards, I try to be forgiving on myself and rather than have a content quality standard, I have a - "do my best in the moment" standard, which allows me to experiment with writing under a range of conditions without being too concerned with the outcome. I think it is because of all of the practice of writing under different conditions that I am able to consistently write - it is kind of like a golfer who has played in the sunshine as well as the rain and wind - the outcome of the score changes under trying conditions, but they still have the ability to perform as well as conditions allow. 

Some people only practice when times are good and I think that this is the same for people who only invest when they have extra, rather than finding ways to always have *something* to invest - even if it is a miniscule and irrelevant amount in the grand scheme of things. Doing the work involved to make that space is more valuable than the immediate investment, but it also sets up the habits of investing well when times are better. 

Writing for me is a multifaceted investment activity, as not only do I learn to make the time and space to write, it also makes me look at my world a little more objectively, as I scour it for possible content, which is often a word or sentence that builds into a 1000-word article. Then, there is the writing itself, which allows me time to process much more than ever hits the keyboard, as I freewrite and have to think about everything I am going to do on the fly. Writing is cathartic, a meditation, an exercise for my mental health. On top of this, there is the engagement factor, where I get to socialize with people who connect with some part of the article and add their own thoughts. I like the discussion and always hope that people are able to get some tiny fragment from it that enriches their life in some way. And of course, there is the potential for earnings on my writing. Many people want to be writers, very few of them ever put pen to paper, let alone earn on what they write. 

Hive encourages people to explore themselves in ways that most will not give space to normally and it is unfortunate that most focus on the reward aspect alone, chasing wherever the dollars might fall. That is part of the game too, but in my experience, it is a game with an end, whereas building a presence as a content creator in a niche is an endless game with wide-open space for personal development. It doesn't mean that the topics can't change, it is just that there is consistency in the creator and rather doing what is required for the trending money grab, it is an organic process of growth within a community who values it. At least, that is how I find it.

While I scraped in by the skin of my teeth, all of these things add *skin in the game* to my experience on Hive, as not only have I built up and invested into my stake, I have also put countless hours into the other facets of Hive that are separate to, but are intertwined with all the other factors. Having skin in makes the game a lot more enjoyable to play, even if sometimes it is difficult and there are failures. With investing, everyone always wants to win, but what makes a game exciting is the uncertainty of outcome and if fortune favors the bold, be bold in all you do. 

As I see it, building a successful small business requires a host of activities and this generally requires filling the proverbial shelves with goods and services, taking care of official considerations and paperwork, as well as developing relationships that can be trusted, especially in the case of repeat business. Most people aren't entrepreneurs and will focus their energy on what they like and are good at, rather than what is difficult, even if those things are necessary to support their end-goals. A lot of people want their blog to perform like a small business of a kind, but don't do the prerequisite activities required to grow clientele or, don't do them in a way that engages their audience. If a person is interested in the result but not the path to get there, it is likely to allude them forever. 

Not everyone is social, not everyone can write, no one can do everything.
*Everyone has skin. Everyone has potential. Everyone can do something.*

Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]


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