

A 30 Day Video Challenge

11 Mar 2019 by Tracy Jones

I have a confession to make—I'm a social media junkie. I had to go through a 12-step program to cure my Facebook habit. I had a short relapse, but I was able to kick it again. I tried Twitter years ago, but that just wasn't for me. Pinterest is just straight up evil. I've planned two weddings, a total remodel of a home, and a trip to Hawaii. None of these things is ever going to happen, but Pinterest has robbed me of about 400 hours of time that I put into these nonexistent projects.  Instagram is one of those things that I can take or leave. 

These days YouTube is my social media platform of choice. I've watched hours of Shane Dawson and Grav3yardgirl videos.  I've watched videos on Retail Espionage. I have a strange fondness for videos of families with umpteen children. I've watched hair and make-up videos galore, yet I rarely wear make-up and my hair routine takes 3 minutes. I've watched hundreds of Stitch-Fix unboxings. Now you know all my dirty little secrets.  But wait, there is one more. While I love to watch other people's videos, I cannot stand to see myself in pictures or videos. I am not of the "selfie" generation. I'm of the "hide anywhere you can to avoid being photographed" generation.

But the jig is up. Last year as part of our Professional Development plan all Teachstone CLASS Specialists were supposed to video, review, and submit a portion of one of our trainings every month. Then one of our team members would watch the video and provide us with feedback. The thought of filming myself and then sharing with a team member was hard enough, but the thought of having to watch myself on video and reflect, well that just put me over the edge. I wasn't very successful with my video submissions last year and I needed a plan for 2019.

As usual, when I have a problem, I decide to worry about it later. I felt the need to relax and watch a little YouTube. While I was watching a YouTube video of a mother of ten children share her grocery haul, I had a revelation. Or something like that. How do these YouTube influencers do this? How do they crank out these videos two to four times per week? How is it that they seem so natural and at ease? And that's when the idea hit me. Maybe they get used to it because they do it every day. Could I overcome my fear of filming and watching myself by actually doing it on a daily basis? 

The new year always brings with it fresh resolutions. And mine is a doozy. I'm resolved to getting a grip on this video phobia that I have. I am challenging myself to a 30-day Video Challenge. What is a 30-Day Video Challenge? Well, I'll tell you. I'm going to video myself for at least 10 minutes every day for 30 days. And every day I have to watch the previous day's video. I have two goals that I hope to achieve by doing this. First, I want to overcome my fear of the camera and seeing myself as others do. And second, I want to learn how to better use the camera on my phone for video purposes.

Are there any brave souls out there that would like to join me in my 30-Day Video Challenge? I know a lot of you video yourself on a regular basis already. Was it hard for you at first?  How did you overcome your fear?  Or were you a natural from the start?