Don’t overthink it. Don’t strategise it. Don’t meticulously plan an hour a day dedicated to sharing on Instagram. Don’t follow the rules for beating the algorithm. Not today. Or tomorrow. Or any day.
If you find yourself sitting, coffee in hand, worrying about showing up with the overwhelming ringing in your ears that you must, for the love of gin, be consistent. Then moments later, coffee is stone-cold, an hour has passed, and you’ve done nothing, you’ve shared nothing.
Because; How? What? When?
If you don’t spend 10 minutes engaging with everyone, commenting, liking, and replying to people who might be people who might be interested in what you have to say. If you don’t follow the rules before you post that thing that you think you should say to get great engagement. No one will see it. Oh, gaud. What if no one sees it? What if no one likes or comments or shares. What’s the point?
Now it’s 12:27 and you’ve wasted another morning with nothing to show.
Show up consistently. That’s the rule. That’s what they say. That’s what it takes. That’s what everyone who has ever amounted to anything has done. That’s what you’re doing. Or trying to do. With your perfectly curated content plan. Mapping out ideas to show up and share daily. Weekly. 3 times a week minimum.
Those are the rules.
And yet somehow it’s been 11 days since you last shared something. 11 days since you had something you needed to say so badly you broke the rules and just showed up when it suited you. 11 days. You may as well be dead in this internet world. 11 days you’ve been missing. You better send an apology. Tell everyone you’ll do better. You promise you’ll show up at the same time every day next week.
Because those are the rules.
That’s what you keep telling yourself.
And when you can’t keep to them, for whatever reason, you stop sharing altogether. You go missing, again. For days. Weeks. There have been times you’ve not said a thing, online, for months. Why is showing up consistently so hard for you? Everyone else manages it. Everyone else manages to stick to the rules.
Except those are not the rules.
Showing up consistently isn’t about posting something, anything, at the same time each week. You don’t have to show up daily. You just have to show up.
Show up when you’ve got something to say.
Show up when you want to talk about something that really gets your goat.
Show up when you have the space, the time, and the energy to connect with the people you want to connect with.
Show up when YOU want to.
You make the rules. Show up every Monday, Wednesday & Friday at 9:45 am if that works for you. Or not. Show up consistently inconsistently. And anything in between!
Just show up for you. For what you want to say. For starting a conversation you care about. For creating a connection with the people who want to listen.
When you next go to post on your favourite platform. Do yourself a favor. Don’t overthink it. Don’t strategise it.
Just show up as you, for you.
June 10, 2022
