Video nasty – or just video squeamish?

When was the last time you felt really uncomfortable? 

I don’t mean butterflies in the stomach, mildly apprehensive and slightly unsure.  I mean truly uncomfortable, want the ground to swallow you up, would rather run barefoot over hot coals than do the thing that’s in front of you? 

I haven't been there for a while, but I know the feeling.  That sinking pit in your stomach.  It’s like a lead weight that’s pinning you to the spot. 

A number of colleagues felt like this when we had to video our performance in skills practice, and then present this (along with a critique) to be assessed. 

As a trainer I’ve done this quite a bit.  Not necessarily the assessment part, but I’ve done plenty of video work that’s been captured and shared.  At the start I was very nervous and self-conscious, but over time I’ve become more comfortable. 

But the reason people were so uncomfortable wasn’t just that unease at seeing themselves on camera.  It was the fear of being judged.  And I can completely relate. 

I still get really nervous in evaluative situations.  Age and experience have helped, but I still feel the pressure and recoil. 

Something that has helped me to get more comfortable with this is working on a mindset shift, because what we’re really afraid of in many cases, is feedback.  Someone telling us what they think of us and the job we’ve done. 

Bad review equals bad person.  Poor performance means poor individual.  If I get a bad review people will think I'm useless and a terrible person.  It’s catastrophising and ‘all or nothing’ thinking (themes we will come back to in much more detail when we get into the CBT training). 

But what if we can shift this?  What if we can adopt the maxim that there’s no such thing as failure, only feedback?  The view that we either win or we learn? 

It’s often not easy, and we will all find some situations harder than others, but if we can start to move towards this perspective, to start to build it, then we can begin to divorce ourselves from failure and negative feedback, or at least lessen the effects. 

So what does it for you?  What’s the situation that gets you in a state of panic?  And how could you shift your thinking towards a ‘win or learn’ perspective?