No One Cares How You Look on Zoom
Along with a few other tips to make video less painful
I clicked on the Zoom invitation and was taken to a black screen. Moments later, I heard a voice: “Michael, what’s up?”
For the next 30 minutes, my friend, Austin Belcak, and I talked in darkness about life and career advice. Prior to wrapping up the call, I asked him about not including the video option. “It doesn’t matter what everyone else is doing. My main priority is to keep my sanity, and video calls steal my energy.” he said.
Austin then went on to explain that instead of giving people an option, on his invitation, he normally just sends his phone number. Then he buckets his calls into two- or three-hour blocks, laces up his sneakers, grabs his notebook, and goes for a long walk.
This simple switch — which 99% of the people he speaks with find refreshing — has allowed him to turn something he used to dread into something he enjoys.
I wholeheartedly agree with Austin that video isn’t always necessary. But, unfortunately, sometimes it is.
As someone who thinks of Zoom as fondly as I do my disgruntled dentist, over the last few months, I’ve been stealing a line from Austin and asking myself how I can turn something that steals my energy into something that produces…
