Stop Caring and Start Posting: How to feel more confident on Instagram

There are so many different ways we can work on ourselves to build confidence in our work and personal lives - but one of the biggest secrets to being more confident is by having a clear understanding and strategy for what it is you’re trying to achieve.

If your goal is to grow on Instagram, then you have to stop caring and start posting. But how? How do you get over your own hesitation, how do you stop caring, and how do you find the confidence you need - that’s what we will be talking about in today’s post - let’s dive in!

Confidence Building Tip #1: Stop listening, and start doing what’s right for YOU!

One of the smartest things you can do for finding confidence on Instagram is to stop listening to all of those Instagram gurus out there that are giving you unmanageable advice. Be consistent, post 10x per week, only post reels … the list goes on. It’s not even that the advice is “bad” - it’s just not manageable for everyone. Instead, you have to create a growth strategy that you’ll actually be able to execute on. Because if you create a content strategy for yourself that’s not realistic, chances are, you just won’t post at all.

The best way to do that is by working from the outside in to discover exactly what strategy will work for you. You will ask yourself three major questions.

What do you love to make?

What performs well on Instagram?

What do you have time for?

Your answers to these questions will lead you to the most sustainable Instagram Strategy - and once you achieve that, you will immediately feel loads more confident in your ability to grow on Instagram.

If need help creating this sustainable strategy, I just released a FREE worksheet called The Sustainable Instagram Strategy Planner. In this interactive worksheet, I’ll walk you through a series of questions and activities that will help you determine what your Sustainable Instagram Strategy will look like.

Confidence Building Tip #2: Practice makes perfect

We have all heard the super cliche phrase, “practice makes perfect” - but the essence of this phrase is true. As Malcolm Gladwell discussed in his bestseller, “Outliers“, to become an expert it takes 10000 hours (or approximately 10 years) of deliberate practice. Now, I am not telling you that it will take you 10 years to find the confidence and the expertise you need to grow on Instagram, but what I am saying is that you will only get better (which will lead to more confidence) if you give yourself time on the platform to learn.

Even if you scroll through my Instagram @katiesteckly - you will see how many changes I have made to the look of my feed over the last few months. I am still learning. I am finding new techniques, new styles, and themes that I now feel look the best and appeal the most to my audience.

Confidence Building Tip #3: Bring Posting on Instagram to your comfort zone, not the other way around

It’s easier said than done to “get out of your comfort zone” - because as soon as we stray too far from our comfort zone, we go into survival mode. So instead, we need to bring “posting on Instagram” closer to your comfort zone - not the other way around.

The best way to get in the habit of doing things that are uncomfortable, we need to attach them to things that feel safe and easy. But how?

The goal here is to stop caring and start posting, right? How do we connect this to something safe and easy?

Let’s use creating and posting a Reel as an example.

Maybe you feel super uncomfortable seeing yourself on Reels, so you stopped trying. Maybe instead of the Reel being solely focused on you - you could do a few things that might make it comfier:

➡️ Add someone to the Reel that makes you feel comfortable. Maybe this is a partner, a child, or a friend - but having someone participate in the Reel with you might take some of that pressure off of being the “star of the show”.

➡️ Use b-roll shots and voiceover. Maybe start small and instead of doing a talking head style Reel or doing some trending dance, just do b-roll shots of something relating to your niche, compile it together, and do a voiceover of what you’re showing in the video.

➡️ You could also do a tutorial-style video, where you are sharing your screen, filming your laptop, or filming something you are doing within your niche - like cooking, crafting, etc. You can add some music and a voiceover to this as well!

These are just a few examples to get you started, but these will start to slowly pull “posting Reels to Instagram” closer to your comfort zone, so that here soon, it might feel just a little uncomfortable to film and post a Reel, versus feeling way too far from your comfort zone.

Confidence Building Tip #4: Get in a good head space

Before you ever open up the Instagram app, get in a good head space first. Do what you need to do to be in a positive mindset; here are a few ways to get you started:

Turn negative self-talk into positive self-talk.

Negative self-talk can creep up easily and is often hard to notice. How many times have you said, “I am horrible at this” or “I am useless when it comes to that”? It’s so easy to let these negative phrases begin to dig deep to where we actually believe them. It’s all about turning the negative into a positive. Instead of saying “I am horrible at this” - you could say, “I will get a lot better with this the more I practice”.

Find the benefit.

There is no such thing as a perfect day, right? We all run into challenges that might redirect the perfectly laid out path we had for the day, but instead of focusing on the bad part of the situation, find the silver lining and focus on the benefits. If you lose your internet, like when half of Canada did about a month ago, maybe you can spend that time brainstorming or doing something outside you haven’t had the time to do. Sure, you probably have a lot of work to do that now you can, but maybe this is a better way to spend your time.

Do something for you.

Give yourself a little something before giving to others. Have your favorite cup of coffee, go on a walk, or dress in a way that makes you feel good - this will help you be your most positive self when showing up.

—

Hopefully, these tips help get you on the right track to becoming more confident, so you can stop caring and start posting. Don’t forget to grab my FREE worksheet, The Sustainable Instagram Strategy Planner.