Try this 2-Minute Exercise if You’re Serious About Improving Your Public Speaking

Recording yourself on video allows you to see yourself the way the world sees you.

Photo by Sam McGhee on Unsplash

If you’re like most people, you cringe whenever you see yourself on video.

There are scientific reasons why. We prefer to see mirror images of ourselves because we’ve spent most of our lives seeing ourselves in a mirror. But the human face isn’t perfectly symmetrical so when you see yourself on film, which isn’t a mirror image, the brain senses that something looks off. We scrutinize ourselves as we try and figure out what looks different, and as a result, we tend to be hypercritical of what we see.

Unfortunately, we tend to be hypercritical of ourselves anyway. Unless you are incredibly vain, you’re probably not looking at yourself on camera thinking “Wow. I look amazing.” Instead, we zoom in on the traits that reinforce our insecurities.

Photo by Taylor Smith on Unsplash

Now that I’ve explained why watching yourself on video can be horribly uncomfortable, why should you do it?

I was recently inspired by a friend who, in an effort to get way out of her comfort zone, auditioned to be on a TV…