How to get over a fear of being on camera with this simple daily hack and a mirror

I needed to get over a fear of being on camera – and I needed to do it fast!

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This was way back in June 2012, and I was about to jump on a plane to go from Sydney, Australia to Paris, France —  and I had bought my first iPhone just 3 days before my departure!

I was VERY excited to have my first iPhone – but it was a bit overwhelming until I met with my friend Toni the night before my flight.

Over a couple of hours of good food, good wine and a quick lesson or two on the iPhone, I had learned enough to get me started and to be keen to know more.

I wanted to create daily videos whilst I was in Paris

I have a website devoted to Paris, and I had a lovely following of people with whom I kept in touch quite often via my Paris Newsletter, and my dream was to be able to create videos with my iPhone every day of the Paris adventure.

I arrived safely at my rented apartment, and on Day 1 I got ready to go out for breakfast (petit dejeuner) and to kickstart the adventure via video!

Taking my very first face-on-camera video in Paris!

I started by looking at myself in the mirror, and talking to myself – without recording myself on the iPhone. OK – that wasn’t so hard :-)

Next, I took a video of myself talking to the iPhone (still in front of the mirror in the apartment).

I was holding the iPhone in one hand, and then I played it back – and thought it was absolutely terrible! It was shaky, and I thought I looked and sounded AWFUL!

I made another video of myself, played it back, and holy moley it was just as bad! So – what did I do to fix this?

1. Instead of feeling defeated, I realised I could just DELETE the videos I didn’t like – woohoo! Eureka moment :D
2. I also realised I could make as many videos as I liked .. until I was happy with one – woohoo again!
3. That day I took about 10-15 short videos of myself talking, watching them, DELETING them – and then finally – FINALLY – I LIKED what I saw!

How did I get over my fear?

I believe there were several reasons for this, but the main thing was that I got over how “I” felt I looked and sounded, and just relaxed into it as though I was talking to a friend on Skype (way before Zoom was invented) :-)

Each morning before I left the apartment I’d make a new video about what I hoped to do that day, which adventure I’d have, and talk about how excited I was! While I was out I’d make more short videos to share my experiences – I really loved doing this!

What are people afraid of when making face-on-camera videos?

Many people I’ve spoken with about this tell me that they:

• have a fear of how they LOOK
• have a fear of how they SOUND
• have a fear of how they’ll be JUDGED BY OTHERS
• have a fear of how their features are not PERFECT
• have a fear of how their teeth look, or their chin, or their ears, eyes etc etc.

The bottom line is this – we are who we are – people love us and like us and we have friends and acquaintances, none of whom step back in horror when we speak to them in person. Right?!!

Try this for just ONE DAY

So I say to you, if you have a fear of being on camera, for one day just:

1. pretend you’re talking into a mirror
2. know that no-one else will EVER see this video
3. record yourself for 5, 10, 20, 60 seconds or more (it’s up to you)
4. do this as many times as you like until you’re HAPPY with one “take”
5. at the tap of a finger, one or all videos can be deleted in the blink of an eye – such power! Woohoo!

So … who is judging us?

The only person judging us is us – we’ve placed too much importance on a 10 or 20 second video of ourselves saying hello to the video camera.

What will happen after trying this for a few days?

I can tell you what happened to me — after about 3 days of making about 10 short video clips in my Paris apartment each morning, I started to feel VERY comfortable just talking.

I imagined I was talking to just ONE of my followers or friends (rather than hundreds), and that made it so much easier.

• In fact I even printed out a photo of one of my followers (who was also a friend of mine), and I stuck that photo on the mirror in the apartment so I could look at it WHILE I was recording myself.
• I didn’t say their name in the recording, but I was THINKING of them as I talking about the adventures I was having, and the ones I planned to have that day.

When I was making more videos during the day, I again pictured my friend (in my mind) and I pretended I was talking ONLY TO HER, telling HER about my adventures and experiences in gai Paree, and the videos turned out great.

Sharing the videos with my followers and friends

I was posting them on Facebook every day, and everyone was so happy to see me in the City of Love and Light, sharing my adventures on the bus, metro, in cafes and stores, explaining French things etc.

I’m so glad I took that first step … that first video!

I am so, so glad I took the plunge and started making a bunch of videos every morning until I created one I was happy with. This made me feel so “in control” with that Delete button on my iPhone, which in turn boosted my confidence to keep going.

After my 6 weeks in Paris it’s pretty safe to say I was definitely over my fear of being on camera!

The more videos you create, the more comfortable you’ll feel. On top of that, video marketing will become easier too, which will definitely lead to powerful marketing for you and your business.

Teena Hughes

https://Teenahughesonline.com