The ‘viral’ YouTube video that Bill took of me at Podcamp Toronto is up to 65 views. The day before it went up, Bob asked: “Are you sure you want me to put this online?” To which I said, sure.
Before I had a podcast, I used to be scared of people seeing me look stupid. I couldn’t have anyone know about a fight with my girlfriend, say something utterly dumb, or have embarrassing stories told about me. I went to great lengths to prevent people from seeing that I made mistakes.
The reality, of course, is that we all look stupid from time to time. The freedom to do so is something that we rarely allow ourselves, but living online has given me the ability to be comfortable with it like never before. Now, I would never go back to the shame of things remaining private.
These days, I live my life as if a camera is always on me. It means honesty is always on my mind, because anything could potentially come back later. And when a camera actually does show up, I really couldn’t care less what it records– after all, what people see really will be me. I’ve mostly gotten over shame, so how could that be a bad thing?
Over time, we’re going to see more and more people do this and, as they do, the level of trust people will have in them will increase. If you’re an online personality, the best thing you could do is open this gate. Take a look at the results; they may surprise you.
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