Breaking Through Fear By Making the Leap

I've been struggling with making videos. Last month I recorded almost 30 clips and videos.

You'd think my channel would be full of videos or at least have some awesome clips. But no.

For most of last month, those videos were on my computer.

I didn't upload any until a few days ago.

My problem? Fear.

Fear of Failure

Funny thing is as novice I knew that these first videos were not going to be great. Yes, you can take some classes to learn how to edit. But there is still a learning curve.

And yet….

I just kept worrying, both about big and small details.

I worried about whether or not I wanted to be in front of the camera like many vloggers or if I wanted to stay behind and focus on the home projects.

I worried about video and audio quality.

I worried that as an amateur I shouldn't share my progress because it's probably too basic for some and my skills aren't there.

Of course, it's important to do my best, but really why nitpick over things?

Perfect really is the enemy of the good.

Making the Leap

So how am I working through my fear with video?

Instead of creating the perfect video or even an awesome first one, I went with the simple choice.

I made two videos with my phone- one was a small tour of the fall garden and the other was showing the new geo bin we bought for our compost project.

Yes they're not professional looking, but they're accomplishing the goals I have for the channel:

• Track our garden – wins/losses/updates
• Encourage others to get started
• Reduce my time writing – some people are gifted with describing in detail the process of gardening. I'm not. Having videos will save me time on posting so I can redirect it towards actually work on the projects.

Start Simple and Build Up

Focusing on my why is pushing me through my fear.

Keeping it simple is also helping me deal with things step by step.

If I plan on showing how to grow a food forest in the food forest, it makes sense to have a starting point, where I'm working with the soil and just getting things off the ground.

I still worry and wonder if I should upload a new video, but I've made a commitment to at least have weekly updates on the garden and post videos about projects as they come up.

As I get more comfortable with my voice, style, and technique, I'll improve.

Thoughts on Making the Leap

Have you ever struggled with a new project? What were some of your big fears? How did you overcome it?