I haven't done one of these HIVE posts for a while and was waiting for my vote value to tick over to 6.70 HIVE which it did last night, but subsequently dropped back down to 6.69 Hive. This is how I monitor my real Hive growth because your HIVE Vote value is a growth tool that earns you more HIVE via curation.
The last post I did on this topic was back o the 29th June so roughly 4 months ago and back then my HIVE Vote value was 6.05 and worth more as a Dollar value back then than now. The dollar value is irrelevant as the important take from all of this is your HIVE value has increased and in this case by another 0.64 HIVE per 100% vote. This is actually quite a bit as this in real value represents an extra 6.4 HIVE earned daily or 192 extra HIVE monthly.
Monitoring your HIVE growth is something I have done for the last 6 years and it definitely helps motivate you to remain consistent. Finding a growth tool you can track is something I would recommend doing if you aren't already.
Stake is what helps your account grow that much faster and I have seen this happen in my case starting to speed up over the last few years. The compounding interest being earned and added along with daily rewards through remaining active is the key to accumulation. As long as you understand that this takes many years of accumulation and one day many years ahead anyone could achieve whale status which is one of my goals. The time factor is going to be different for every user as some are more active than others.
Having a sizeable take in HIVE Power means you not only earn more HIVE, but you can support others in the community and help them grow. HIVE may not have a high Dollar value right now, but we know how hard this is to earn and why most of us feel it is under valued. If HIVE was so easy to earn then there would be no monetary value so having a level of difficulty is actually a good thing.
The other bonus of having stake is the APR that s continuously being earned and added to your stake every minute of the day. The 3.15% APR guarantees in my case an extra 11.6 HIVE being automatically added to my stake daily which ultimately helps push up the HIVE Vote value.
You could also have HBD earning 15%, but I do not see the point or benefit in that currently because there is going to be an upside in the HIVE price and whatever you have gained now with HBD will be seen as a lost opportunity. Maybe next year HBD will be worth visiting, but for now my view this is not the right time.
If you are trying to grow on HIVE then find a way to track your growth as it will help you focus which will ultimately help your numbers improve.