Very good point, like anything its going to be a longhaul and oftentimes when your ready to giveup your closer than you think. I came into steemit full steem ahead...pardon the pun... and slowly started losing some enthusiasm. While I probably dont' dedicate as much time as I did early on, I still try to be very active on here and recently I've been seeing the growth start to happen. Where as before I would maybe get 6 cents a post and a couple upvotes, these days I'm getting a couple bucks a post and a dozen or moree upvotes. It takes time but if your consistant it will grow.

I think like you said motivation gets you started but perseverance and habits keep you goign.