So I made my first web video.  Quite honestly, I am still not sure if it was worth the effort. You will have to tell me.

Would you rather that I speak through the 30 seconds? Or would you rather I write a long mail explaining what the videos home study is about? In case you are wondering what I am referring to, here’s the video – let me know your comments, it will help me know if I should do more or less of these.  Thanks for your feedback.

When I was trying to produce this video (as well as the home study videos for managing work related stress) I ran into issues at almost every corner.  It was not a simple case of pressing the record button.

I had no idea of what is involved, the different software to use, the resolutions, the rendering, the encoding, the player, the format, the hosting, the bandwidth, the speed of loading, security … you get the idea. 

I googled for information, I visited forums and I asked. It was a tedious project. And then I remembered that I had signed up for a video editing course sometime back! Confession time, this is the one program I had bought and not made use of till recently.

Lessons learned?  Many. And I will only highlight two here:
1 – There is a huge amount of free information out there – if you know where to look.  And if you are willing to put in the effort to digest and try, you can do almost anything you want.

2 – It takes a lot of trial and error to experiment, adjust and refine. Knowing is different from implementing. If I had given up at any point in time when I hit an implementation issue, all prior effort leading up to the last stage would have been wasted.

Looking back, I could have produced the same video in at least half the time if I had resorted to the video course.  It had all the information I need filtered and structured for me in an organized way taking me through the process of learning this new skill step by step.

Can I do it on my own? I guess I did, in some long and winding way.
Would I have been able to do it more elegantly and gotten better results faster? You bet!

So here’s the thing. There is a lot of information out there on any topic under the sun, yet you would benefit most if you tap into a structured course. 

Learning from a well thought-out curriculum with proved processes does not undermine your capability do this on your own. Nor is this a waste of your precious money. In fact it saved me a lot of time and gave me better results. I am paying for it either way, either in monetary terms or otherwise.

If you are experiencing overwhelm from your work, constantly interrupted by your smart phone, the gadgets and the on line chats, then check out this report.  There are also videos on demand to help you (after you leave your email and name).  Every interruption will cost you at least 20 minutes to get back on track.  Interruption costs US 900 billion a year in lost productivity. 

Research tells us that every 11 seconds we are distracted and loaded with more information. 28% of a typical work day is lost due to distractions.  To manage this interruptions and sense of overwhelm, you can implement strategies and tips outlined in the course. Time is one commodity you cannot afford to waste.

In the final analysis, it is taking action in what you know that counts. When you implement the concepts and have “implementation questions”, you can bring these questions to the live coaching sessions. Are you ready for a more productive and less stressed out this year?