Why Coaches Freeze on Camera (How to Fix It for Good)

Have you ever pressed record, then all of a sudden your body tenses up, your thoughts seem to be scattered everywhere, and then time, like everything within time, just freezes in that moment? Well, if you're a business owner, that moment is not random. And I just want to say, it's not because you're camera shy, and it's not because you don't know what to say. That moment occurs because you're afraid of what they will say. And we'll talk about who they are. So in this video, I'm going to explain why everything seems to freeze, why you seem to freeze the moment that you turn that camera on and how you can stop freezing on camera and how you can start speaking using your natural voice. Now I want to share with you what I call the cycle of inaction. It's a perpetuating cycle that so many of us are familiar with. And it starts with you turning on the camera. You get excited because you said you was going to turn on the camera and post videos in the past. But this time is different. This time is different because you feel like you have more awareness of how to grow a successful YouTube channel. This time is different because you've been listening to all the powerful motivational speakers and you feel like you got that energy within you. You feel like you got that confidence within you to finally post a video and show up for those who you're meant to serve. And just like that, that's when it happens. Once you press record, it seems like it never fails. The moment you see that blinking red light of doom, that's when your body starts to tense up. That's when your heart starts to race as if it's going up against Usain Bolt. That's when your thoughts are scattered everywhere. That's when your mouth doesn't move. All you can think about are all the family members, the friends, the associates, even strangers seeing that video and having something negative to say about you. And that's the moment when you begin to press stop and you don't post anything. Whatever clip that you did create, you decide to delete it. You've deemed it inadequate for public consumption. Because if they did consume that video, they're probably going to judge you. I know this cycle well because I was a well participant in this cycle. You see, I wasted 827 days. That's 2 years and some change. I wasted procrastinating, creating excuses, and wasting time of reliving this ongoing cycle. Because for me, the people whose opinions that I was afraid of were my own family members. I was afraid of my own flesh and blood seeing those videos and potentially judging me for those videos. And it was because they know me so well for who I used to be. I was ashamed of them to know me for who I'm called to be, which was foolish for me because I post positive content to help others see what's within them, what they may not see already within them. It wasn't like I was posting content that would compromise my morals and values. But yet still I was afraid that, man, they gonna say something if they see these videos. You wanna know what's embarrassing? Like, can I be transparent with you right now? I took it a step further. I didn't just turn on that camera, press record, not record anything, and delete the clips that I did film. I would literally go on Instagram and other social media platforms that I knew that I was gonna post on, and I would block my family members just to prevent them from judging me. Just to prevent them from seeing those videos and saying something about me the next time that they see me. Like, isn't that crazy? That hurts me inside, really. And I can only imagine if they knew that I was doing this, it would hurt them as well. Here's how fear works. It is a mental mechanism that our mind uses to overprotect us from potential danger. And it's telling us that the potential, potential danger of us showing up on camera is that other people will judge us So in order to protect us, it forces us to make decisions that are desirable for us. So it's telling us that the better decision than to post those videos is to not post those videos. If you don't take control of fear, fear will gladly take control of you. It will persuade you to make decisions that don't make any sense, like to not post videos when you know that's what you've been wanting to do and you know that's a possibility of taking your business to the next level. Fear Fear told me that, you know what, go ahead, block them. Go ahead, block every last one of them that you see, because if you don't, they gonna say something about you. This is how far it's willing to go to protect you. Now, why does the fear of judgment occur? Remember when I said that fear is a mental mechanism that our mind uses to overprotect us from potential danger? I want to share with you the false beliefs that fear has been feeding you to overprotect you from creating content, and it's got you freezing every time, and it's not allowing you to speak naturally every time you turn on that camera. And I'm going to do this by showing you the illustration of what I call the Tree of Judgment. Here are the top 5 false belief systems that you believe in that represents the roots that grows this tree. And here are the top 4 fruits that falls from this tree as a result of those lies. Here's the first false belief system of what the fear has told you to overprotect you from creating content. Fear has you believing that your voice is cringy. The moment that you start speaking and you start to hear yourself, you realize, ugh, you think to yourself that your voice is disgusting because you're not trained to listen to yourself. And you believe that if other people were to listen to how you speak, they would think that your voice is cringy. So you tell yourself, you know what, continue this cycle of inaction of turn on that camera, not posting anything and saying that I'm going to do it next time. Here's the second false belief that fear got you saying to yourself, which is, I don't have good equipment. Because you compare your beginning to someone else's middle or end and you recognize their production value, you say to yourself, I got to get better equipment before I show up because people are not going to like the way that I'm showing up now. They're going to say something based on what I have now. You know what's funny to me? No one watches a YouTube video. No one watches any content just because someone has filmed with a specific camera. No one watches content because someone's speaking through a specific mic. Here's the third false belief that you have that's overprotecting you and preventing you from showing up on camera, which is, I'm not perfect yet. If you identify as a perfectionist, you believe that you should show up in a certain way because you have high standards. And oftentimes we have unrealistic high standards. Standards that we would never meet because of our physical or mental limitations. And so we think to ourselves, if it's not up to this standard, it doesn't deserve to be seen. But here's the thing. No one needs you to be perfect. People just need you to be present. But because you believe that people are going to judge you based on how you show up and how imperfect that you are, you believe that they're going to attack certain insecurities that you have. They're going to talk about things that they notice that you've tried to hide from people. And so fear is telling you, turn on that camera, turn it off, don't post anything. Here's the fourth false belief that you have. You say to yourself, I'm not a natural speaker. I'm not a speaker like these communicators who speak for a living or these content creators who got they rips in. So what if I fail? What if I forget what I'm supposed to say? What if I don't pronounce a word correctly? And again, you decide, turn on that camera, turn it off, don't post anything. One of the funniest videos that I have on YouTube, and I can't remember what video it was, it was one of my earliest videos. And in the middle of me giving my intro, I pronounced my own name wrong. Do you know how imperfect you got to be to not say your own name correctly? But because you're afraid that people will talk about how you speak, whatever aspect that can be, again, this cycle of inaction is a recurring thing for you. Now, here's the fifth system. That's overprotecting you from creating content, and you believe that you're not qualified yet. You have imposter syndrome. All of these false belief systems that I mentioned, I had them all, but this one got me. It got me good. I thought that I wasn't qualified to impact others in a positive way because when I decided that I was going to start creating content and creating self-help content, I was 19 years old. I was young. I felt like I didn't have enough experience. I also thought that with me at that time identifying as a motivational speaker, how can I motivate others when I compared my life to the motivational speakers who I respected? My upbringing was nothing similar to theirs. When you listen to Les Brown's story, a man who was born during the time that segregation was relevant, a man who didn't know who his biological parents were, he didn't find out who his real parents were until he was in his 70s. And you listen to his story and how he was able to overcome a lot of things that wasn't my upbringing. When you listen to Eric Thomas, who talks about how he dealt with being homeless for a certain period of time, and he didn't know who, who his biological father was for a certain period of time, that wasn't my upbringing. When you listen to Tony Robbins and he talks about how he was abused by one of his parents, that wasn't my upbringing. And to hear how they all went through all of that and they were able to overcome it and use it as a driving force to the success that they created. I thought to myself, why would anyone want to listen to me? Even though I had been engaging in public speaking competitions for a long period of time and I had the, the experience to positively impact others, why would anyone want to listen to me when my upbringing wasn't similar to theirs? You see, here's my upbringing. I grew up in a two-parent household. I was always on the A/B or A/All A honor roll. I was actively involved in community service, academic clubs, and extracurricular activities. I had a peaceful, structured upbringing. Why would anyone want to listen to me when my upbringing wasn't similar to theirs? And so for me, this cycle just kept repeating where days would turn into weeks, weeks would turn into months, and unfortunately, months would turn into years of me having a desire to create content to positively impact others, but failing to do so because I didn't want to be judged. Now, these are the 5 false belief systems that grows this tree of judgment. But here's the 4 fruits that falls from that tree of judgment. And unfortunately, these are 4 ways that you're suffering by not creating content. Now, here's the first: by continue to believe in these false belief systems and not creating content, that means there's growth for your competitors. Why? Because if they're the ones who's creating content, especially long-form content, they're building an audience who's having a connection with them. Here's what their audience is saying to themselves. You know what? This person is— and because they helped me so much, I want to buy what they have to offer. Think about it. These are the same people who could be going to you and looking at you as the industry leader if only they knew that you existed. If only you started posting content. What if you know that your competitors don't have a better product or service than you, but they're still growing an audience and building connection, and those audience members are turning into clients? How does that make you feel? So if you're unintentionally creating growth for your competitors, that means that you have a stagnant business because creating content can create visibility for your brand and what you have to offer And it can be the marketing strategy that attracts more people rather than you going out to the marketplace and cold approaching. You know what sucks about cold approaching? You're spending time, energy, and effort getting rejected, basically, when you could put the same time, energy, and effort creating intentional content that attracts the right people, showing them that you have something that can solve a problem that they have. Here's the third fruit of how you're suffering by not creating content. You have an invisible brand. No one can know you and know that you exist if you're not showing up for them and all they see is your competitors. I once heard of a wise man say that there's millions of people who would love to buy what you have to offer if only they knew that you existed. Well, if you're invisible and you're not creating content, why would anyone want to buy from you if they don't know that they can buy from you? Aren't you starting to see how you're suffering more than you realized? By not creating content. And trust me, it only gets worse, especially with this last fruit. When you believe in those false belief systems, one of the fruits that really gets you and you really suffer from is low confidence. Every time that you lie to yourself saying that you're going to post a video and you're not doing it, all you're doing is telling yourself is that you can't trust yourself. And that's why you freeze on camera every time. That's why you feel like you don't have what it takes to show up for the people who will benefit from what you have to offer. You see, this fear is causing more harm than help. So how do you stop freezing on camera? Speak naturally and post consistently. As we establish, this fear of judgment is what's causing all of this. This is the problem that we have. Now, in order for you to have a fear of judgment, you have had to place someone on a pedestal. Putting people on a pedestal is the seed that this tree of judgment comes from. Think about it. You fear other people's opinions because you place them above you. You deem their opinions to be superior. And in that moment, you've allowed yourself to feel inferior. I allow myself to feel inferior to my family members. Think about it. I don't want them to think a certain way about me. And that's exactly what you're doing with whoever— family members whose opinions you don't want to be negative, of friends or associates or even strangers. You're placing them on a pedestal. So in order for you to stop freezing on camera and speak naturally, you have to apply what I call the Pedestal Principle. And it states this: take them off the pedestal and fear becomes minimal. You can eliminate the fear of judgment and speak naturally if you stop placing them on the pedestal. And this is how you do it. You come to the realization that they are humans just like you. They make mistakes just like you. They have flaws just like you. They're imperfect. Just like you. They're not gods. They're not kings or queens. When they wake up in the morning, they probably got morning breath just like you. That's what you have to do in order to stop being immobilized and paralyzed by this fear of judgment. You got to stop placing them on a pedestal by recognizing that they are humans just like you. I had to realize that sharing what I need to share was more important than fearing the people who I love. The moment I start applying this pedestal principle and I stop allowing myself to feel inferior to my family members, and I just recognized that they were human just like me. That's when I started having a rise in my confidence. That's when I started feeling more comfortable speaking on camera. That's when that pressure reduced every time I saw that red light blink, and that's when I stopped freezing on camera. And that's what's gonna help you. The more that you continue to do this and the more reps you get in, that's when this starts to feel effortlessly as far as seeing that red light blink and not thinking about all the people who will see those videos that you will post and judge you for. So I encourage you, turn the camera on, and the moment your heart starts to race because you think about all the people who will see those videos, take them off the pedestal and that fear will become minimal. Recognize that they are humans just like you and say what you need to say for the people who you were meant to serve.