Investing in Others on Hive

Yesterday and today I have delegated Hive Power to projects. I have also started gifting Hive SBI Units to accounts that interest me. I find myself at this crossroads of sorts because I have enough Hive Power to be able to one of those people who quietly reinvest in the Hive community. Until now, I have mostly built up my stake so that I could increase the value of my upvotes. I figured the best way to help others was to increase the value of my upvote. But in reality, it takes a lot more HP to have significant upvotes than I have cash to invest.

Most of my stake is out of pocket, which I had started to liquidate so I can build up DeFi credit. But this felt awkward. The reason I paid so much into Hive was that I saw it as a business of sorts. Taking out my investment feels like capitulation. I find myself in need of cash flow and credit. Naturally, it seemed obvious that I could raid my built up stake in Hive. But could there be something else I could do? Perhaps instead of looking at my own situation, I could turn my focus to others.

Yesterday, something clicked in my mind. Instead of cashing out all my HIVE holdings, I started to gift Hive SBI and increase delegations. This still decreases my Hive Power in the short term. Each time I gift Hive SBI I see my liquid HIVE balance go down. And each delegation reduces my upvote rewards. But I know that in the long run, I’m helping others and myself with more consistent earnings.

I have never been one to grind out daily posts for a long stretch. I eventually burn out and retreat. With Hive SBI, I know that people I sponsor can also rely on a basic level of rewards for their work, even if infrequent. I think this can help with retention of Hive users. I think a lot of people give up on Hive because they don’t feel seen or appreciated for their work. Because of the way Hive SBI works, it also means that my own work gets a minimum level of reward.

As far as delegations go, I am supporting @ecency Their platform has been rock solid. And the mobile app is the most convenient way for me to participate on Hive from anywhere. This is particularly important for interacting on Waves. I find using a browser for Threads or Snaps on mobile to be too finicky. I prefer a dedicated app. What I particularly appreciate about Ecency is the ability to use points for promoting posts, either my own or the posts of others. Earning points on Ecency only requires using Ecency. There is win all over.

I have also added a delegation to @worldmappin to support their work. I have some experience finding travel blog posts from having used TravelFeed. The ability to find blog posts by location is, in my opinion, highly useful for discovering posts that are long past their reward period. There is a lot of great work that gets buried in the daily deluge of new posts. A map is more intuitive and accurate than the search features of the Hive front ends when it comes to travel posts.

This change in focus is a result of a nascent spirituality, particularly in terms of vocations. We all have our purpose. Mine is not as a developer or a community builder. I had to humble myself to accept that I can’t grow on Hive alone. I am severely outnumbered when it comes to curation, lacking the time and resources to wholly dedicate myself to giving upvotes. If I am going to be of meaningful service to others, it seems that the greatest impact for my effort would be to empower others to carry out their own vocations. This is similar to the idea that you don’t get to heaven by focusing on yourself. We are called to serve.

Translating that to Hive, I don’t think I can prosper by being selfish with my Hive Power. Obviously, just giving away HIVE/HBD would only be a temporary aid to the recipients. Therefore, a more lasting and powerful way to help is to delegate to good projects and sponsor people with Hive SBI so that they can better help themselves through their own work. And just like being of service to others in life is more spiritually fulfilling, generosity with my HIVE could also turn out to be more rewarding in the long run.