Very true. "By small and simple things, great things come to pass." Or something like that.
I just learned that my brain thinks I'm doing awesome when the actual results show otherwise, so to avoid thinking I've done such marvelous work, when I haven't, I needed to keep track.
The only real goal I have right now is to get to that 50,000 point mark, which means I need to get some serious commenting done, as well as keep the CL up. I don't know how the formula works, but I'm guessing, based on past results, that I need to over 250,000 CL with a correspondingly higher comment count to get there.
What happens after that is out of my hands, right? I can't control who replies to my comments, what they say back, if they upvote or not, if they end up following and taking an interest in what I do into the future. I can only do what I can do, and let the chips fall where they may.
I don't know the whole formula either. Ok, I don't know any of it. I just know the factors. I don't self-vote so I avoid the negative points. I try to give out lots of votes for things. I also try to leave informed comments on lots of posts, but it's difficult to get the points up sometimes. I hope you can get the 50,000 point mark though. That would be fun to see. We'd have to make you a cake or something for that accomplishment.
At the end of the day, if you're enjoying it, I think that's better than metrics. Unless metrics are the goal, in which case, get to earning. ;)
Can't remember who I've told this to, it may well have been you, so if I'm repeating myself, tell me—I tend to enjoy meeting and surpassing my previous attempts. It's the only competition I allow myself to have anymore, between me and me. So, I have lots of fun with the interacting, the learning, the meeting people I would never meet otherwise, and I also have fun trying to reach for something that hasn't been done before. So, the metrics are part of the enjoyment.
I've decided that if I pay way less attention to how I'm doing and more attention to how I'm adding value to other people's posts and comments, meaning comments and curation, then the rewards will come and I feel better about what I'm doing here all around. Because it's not just about me. Go figure. :)