Posted by I have written many blogs here and I know that there is a message in here somewhere. I just feel it in my code (as Vanellope Von Schweetz would say). Over the last year I spent my time writing yet more blogs to find the message in my blogs and I realised I could go on forever blogging about my blogs.
In September I decided to do one YouTube video a week to see what I was talking about and if I could boil down very long blogs into small snippets of information, but I got fed up at how bad I was and didn’t finish them and then I accidentally smashed my phone and used that as an excuse to give up all together.
Last week, as I was watching the trains at Kings Cross and feeling frustrated at my lack of understanding about my own opinion on human-computer interaction, I had a mini-revelation which inspired me to embrace my not knowing and do one video a day until I have talked right through all my blogs and then repeat them until a) I know what I am on about and b) I am not terrible at being a talking head on YouTube.
At first I was mortified, and kept fiddling with the lights and putting on plenty of makeup but today I was tired, so didn’t do any of that. I just sat down and said what I had to say and managed three different topics. And it is a bit like Bikram Yoga, which I practice as often as I can. If you practice enough in front of the mirror (or camera) you start to like what you see or at least you get used to it enough to stop finding fault. Some days in Bikram I like it less than others, like over the summer I kept munching on cookies and created an extra layer of dough over my abs. At first I didn’t like what I saw then I decided to see it differently: Ta daa I made a comforting cookie belt!
YouTube videos are the same. I am beginning to look at me differently. Instead of criticising, I am supporting: Look at what I know! Even after one week, I see that I have a message and I enjoy listening to what I have to say (but don’t tell anyone).
I know I am supposed to have a call to action here: Come join me, subscribe, and all that jazz, but honestly, it’s ok, the videos are very long and sometimes waffly. For now, it is enough that I am watching them. And that got me thinking about a different sort of call to action which is: Get out there. Be your own fan and watch what you can create.
You may just surprise yourself.
