I was measuring success here initially with the dollar amount each post makes. This was the orientation at work, and the most logical way to measure for someone who does not know much about the community is the monetary reward. This is powerful in a way that this talks about something that you would have only learned by experience. This will save a lot of newbies pain and frustration of having to go through the ups and downs. I mean the ride will most probably be with the same ups and downs, but less the frustration; thus becomes more enjoyable.

Reward here comes in many forms alright. I had a post that earned $0.07 recently, that same post was translated to Chinese by @ ygern and made over $200. I had a post that got acknowledged by @steemiteducation, while it did not make a lot in terms monetary reward; the acknowledgement is reward in itself. 

I still think I have a lot to learn, and because of that I read posts from people like you. I also recently came across @natureofbeing who likes sharing deeper insights on steemit and life in general more than just the how-to. You always talk about the "underlying concepts" and to be honest I don't always get it. I think I am getting it  more frequently than not compared to when I was just starting to read your works. It is the same as my journey in steemit. I came here feeling confident (almost arrogant) taking into account what I have achieved in other aspects of life. It is when I started acknowledging that I don't know anything about this, when I started really taking interest in how this works, and then exploring the underlying concepts; this journey became all the more enjoyable. And while I am still not earning lots in $, I am earning way better engagement, and I know the $ will follow.