Are You Camera Shy? Really....?

If you think you're camera shy, then you might want to watch this video. I've guided a lot of people into the video age and so many people come up to me and say, I'm camera shy. You don't understand I'm camera shy. and I say, no you're not. I know what camera shy is because I've worked with people who are clinically camera shy.

There's a woman I've worked with, she has no photos of herself. She has no photos of her mother. She has no photos of her grandmother.

There was something in that side of the family that they refuse to have any images of themselves and that's a clinical condition. I can't help you with that, but 99 out of a hundred people who I work with, you are not camera shy. What you are is visually constipated. You've got everything you need to be on video, but you're so in your head and you take it all so seriously that when you get on camera, it just won't come out.

Here's my prescription

Eat a bran muffin and let it go.

Seriously, a little bit of levity. That's what you need. This is not as big a deal as you're making it out to be. So once people get over that barrier, then they get up to the next one, which is mechanically competent. I mean, they're working this out there. They're making the videos and pushing the buttons and getting the content out there, but they're never really happy and this is where most people get to, they get up to this barrier, this dotted line here, and they need assistance to get over that. Do you know what this dotted line is? Everything below this dotted line is when you're thinking about yourself, when you're making a video, everything above the dotted line is when you're thinking about your customer, your client, the person you're trying to help with your video.

So if you can get yourself out the way, then all of a sudden you get over this barrier into being like this. I mean, I'm just casually confident on camera. I'm not kidding. I haven't got a thought in the world about what I'm saying, whether it's perfect the way I'm looking, I'm thinking about you. I'm thinking in my head, is this resonating? Is this going to help someone? And then once you become casually confident, you get up to the top level, which is utterly compelling.

Do you know who's utterly compelling?

Two examples Jacinda Ardern, prime minister of New Zealand, she has mastered this connecting with people through this glass wall, just using simple video. And another person that a lot of people know is Gary Vaynerchuk. Then you might not agree with what he says, but watch how he works the camera. He's not thinking about himself at all.

It's not a big secret, but it seems to be a thing that most people just can't work out. So if you feel stuck starting on your video journey, if you're saying that on camera shy and you're using that as a throwaway line,

I want you to reconsider...

I have worked with a lot of people and I've got them from being camera shy to being casually confident. And that journey that they took when they got there, they said, God, it was nowhere near as big a deal as they have made out in their minds. So is today the day you're going to start your journey into being casually confident. Maybe one day utterly compelling on camera.

If you want to work with me, the best way to start is to get my book. It's free. You can get the digital version by going to www.julianmather.com or you can invite me into your workplace to run a Get Video Smart workshop. Maybe you would like to come to one of my public workshops. You can see those at www.julianmather.com and if you are leading a team or an organization, get me in to do my keynote. My Get Video Smart keynote because it is the best way to kickstart video in your organization.