How to Overcome the Fear Making Videos on YouTube

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” 

Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics

This is not a typical post for me. In fact, this video post goes against every professional communications bone in my body. Why? The video is not polished so it has not edited out the imperfections of my speech, or my fat face.

For a long time, my preference has been behind-the-scenes coaching and advising others, and editing other people’s work. But doing this imperfect video showing myself not at my best, and allowing myself to publish it, has been a liberating experience.

The Youtube Video Challenge

Let me rewind. For the last week in the evenings, I’ve been doing the Free 5-Day Youtube 1K Challenge with Think Media. Today is Day 5 of the Challenge and this video is Day 5’s challenge to do. Of course, participants have the option to simply not do the daily challenges.

But I find that if you don’t play fully in a Challenge like this, you miss out on the learnings and the opportunity to learn and grow, as you take action, and the feelgood that can come with that.

The act of doing, as Think Media’s Founder Sean Cannell pointed out during the 5-Day Challenge, is where the magic happens.

The simple act of committing to do this video with minimal editing, before posting it on Youtube, reminded me of the power of DOING what you say you will do, regardless. That’s what I did, despite my procrastination and my initial reluctance to do the video today.

But make no mistake: doing Youtube Videos, with minimal editing, takes courage. If you have ever worried about what other people think of you being on video with all your imperfections, this is an exercise in bravery and letting go. As I started recording, any apprehension that existed prior disappeared, just like that. But I forgot to follow my own advice about using spoken pauses to reduce the use of space fillers like ‘ahhs and umms. It completely left my mind because I was more anxious about what I was going to say and the camera.

Who’s Going to See It Anyway?

I am also grateful when I posted this video today that my Youtube Channel (and my blog) are still very new. My Youtube channel has only 8 subscribers. So who’s going to see it anyway? (Can you see me biting my nails?)….Other than the people I am doing the Challenge with. We’re all in the same boat so there’s empathy among people on the same journey, thank goodness.

Accepting today’s video challenge has helped me to really relax about filming and video production. Last year I did an agile project management paper and it taught me a lot. One thing was that the principles of agile PM focused on flexibility to pivot or change and iterate as we went along, and getting tasks done. The old-school way of project management, from where I stood, leaves little room for iterations or adapting to new conditions and circumstances.

An Agile Focus on “Done”

When I say focusing on done, it is based on my experience that we, as humans, can often beat ourselves down, hesitating to contribute, volunteer or step forward to help, or accept opportunities, because we believe that what we have to offer is not perfect or good enough. And that robs us of opportunities to learn and grow and gain further inspiration. The same goes for being willing to just record videos on Youtube if that’s what we want to do.

So. this is a deliberate effort on my part for the last two years although I haven’t had time this year to focus on creating videos.

“We don’t need to make longer regret lists. We don’t need people that are very very smart and yet do nothing. We need people that do the things they already know how to do. Stop learning and start doing. Motivation, not education.” 

Richard Heart