Over the past few days I’ve had some of my zoom classes recorded in the name of improving online classes in general. While I’m all for it, and I think it’s great to watch yourself teach (or do anything creative) so you can be more critical of your own performance, doing so too much can be a recipe for disaster.

It’s hard, but when you know you’re being watched you act in a way that is different than when you know (or think) you’re not. So when you’re doing something like a driving test or something that requires performance on cue, you really have to pretend like no one else is watching you to do it well.

If you start thinking about it, ie if you start using your brain, you focus too much on not screwing up, and it has the opposite effect. Being able to switch off the observer means being able to switch onto your natural self which leads to a better performance, if you’ve practiced well enough, that is.