At FLOWN, the start-up I'm working at, we provide a range of live and on demand sessions and tools to help people work more effectively. Our premium on demand 'portholes' are beautifully shot and staged. At the other end of the scale (and something we offer for free on our YouTube channel) is a range of videos the team have shot of themselves working. Here's my 25min video:
Why do this?
Why film myself? Why provide this for others? We touch on this in the science behind FLOWN blog post and others have written about effects such as how body doubling can boost productivity.
In short - seeing others work helps put you in the mood.
Setting the scene
Obviously filming yourself and putting your surroundings onto a public channel needs a little prep. Fortunately there were already flowers in the living room but I did dig out the mobile sculpture which usually lives in a cupboard as it gets knocked over regularly. Quick tidy up, arrange the table, put the nice cushion in view and off we go!
Working
Our usual deep work sessions (flocks) are live with others working alongside you. I found a very similar feeling when filming myself. The intention of working solidly for 25mins (the pomodoro time) and having an 'observer' really helped keep my focus. I looked a bit grump and serious to start but soon got into the flow - the time flew by and while this was a staged video I got a bunch of work done.
Working with me
So pop along and 'work with me' and let me know how it went.