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Why Knowing This One Thing Will Change How Confidently You Put Your Work Out There

There’s a particular kind of fear that comes with putting yourself out there as a creative.

Not just simply sharing your work but really putting it out there: into unfamiliar spaces, with people who don’t already know and love you, in places where you genuinely don’t know how it’s going to be received.

That’s a different feeling altogether and it’s one I’ve been sitting with a lot recently.

We’re Often More Comfortable Than We Realise

Something I’ve noticed, both in myself and in the artists I work with, is that a lot of us think we’re confident about putting our work out there when actually we’re just comfortable.

There’s a difference. Comfortable is sharing within a circle that already knows you. Comfortable is posting to an audience that already likes you. It feels like confidence because it doesn’t scare you. But the moment you step outside that circle, into an unfamiliar room, a new audience, a platform where nobody knows your name, the fear can manifest.

That’s exactly what happened to me when I started working with the Confident Club on speaking seminars. I walked in thinking I’d been doing this for years, I’ve done over 3,000 videos and 10 years of being online. But then I sat in a room with world class speakers and felt completely out of my depth. The imposter feeling arrived immediately.

And that feeling, by the way, never fully goes away. The more you grow and push yourself into new spaces, the more it comes up. It just means you’re in new territory.

The Question To Ask Yourself

The most powerful tool I have for moving through that fear is asking why.

Don’t just ask this once. Ask yourself over and over again.

Don’t stop at “Do I want to do this?” But why does this matter? And then why does that matter? And then why does that matter?

Here’s an example:

When I was deciding whether to take on the Confident Club work, I didn’t say yes straight away. I spent months sitting with it. First asking whether I connected with what they were doing and why. Then asking why it mattered to me personally. Then asking what it would mean for my own growth, my children, the work I do at United ArtSpace.

By the time I’d gone through all of those layers, I had a why that was solid enough to hold me even when things got difficult and uncomfortable, which they absolutely did.

That same process works for your art. Before you share something that scares you, ask why it exists. Why did you make it? Why does it matter? Go as deep as you can.

When I did that with a sketchbook full of leaf motifs I’d convinced myself were not good enough to share, I discovered they’d been with me since childhood. A way of coping with anxiety and distraction that my young self had found instinctively, and that I’d returned to decades later during one of the hardest periods of my adult life.

Those drawings weren’t flawed. They were significant. And once I understood why they existed, nobody’s opinion of them could shake me. I could share them with complete conviction.

That’s what a real why does for your confidence.

You Don’t Need Everyone To Like It

In the work I do with the Confident Club, not everyone in the room is going to connect with me. Some people won’t like the way I speak or the stories I tell and that’s something I’ve had to make peace with.

In your art, it’s even simpler. You don’t need a majority. You don’t even need people to like it in the conventional sense. You just need the right people to feel something when they encounter it. Sometimes, all it takes is one person who sees something in your work that resonates with them deeply is enough.

And when someone doesn’t respond well, that’s the moment to grow your skin a little and remind yourself you’re not here to please everyone. You’re here to find your people.

Own It, Even When You Don’t Fully Feel It

Last thing, and it’s something I come back to constantly.

Fake it till you become it.

When the confidence isn’t genuinely there, go back to your why, stand tall, shoulders back, and carry it in your body even before your mind catches up. Think about your posture, your voice, the energy you’re bringing into the room or into the post or into the conversation.

There is a world of difference between someone who shares their work with conviction and someone who shares it with an apology attached. People feel that difference immediately.

And the more you practise showing up that way, the less you’re faking it. You say it enough times. You live it enough times. And eventually it just becomes who you are.

Find your voice. Find your people. And remember, somewhere out there right now, there is one next person who needs to see exactly what you have to share.

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Have a great week & take care,

Michelle xo