“A little risk is good. Fear is energy.”
- Mary Roach
New Years resolutions are old hat. Significant changes in life require formulating a plan and making a commitment regardless of what month of the year it is.
Still, it’s nice to start a new year off with new energy. In the place of resolutions or random goals specific to the month of January, I have started a tradition of setting a one-word intention for the new year. In 2015, it was freedom. In 2018 (the year I quit my job and started my full-time freelance career) it was tenacity. The word I’ve chosen for 2020 is exposure.
The word exposure comes from the Old French exposer, meaning ‘to place’ and from the Latin expositus, meaning to ‘put or set out’.
The term has several meanings and applications to my life. In photography, it reminds me of developing exposures in the dark room (how I first learned photography back in high school). In rock climbing and mountaineering, exposure refers to the scary stuff — a thin ridge line with a thousand foot drop on either side, or sub-zero temperatures coupled with fatal wind chill.
But I’m most interested in how I can apply the idea of “exposure” to bring more confidence and competence to my professional life.
ex·pose (verb)
/ikˈspōz/
make (something) visible by uncovering it.
reveal the true, objectionable nature (of someone or something).
In my self-employment journey thus far, one unexpected challenge has been coping with a constant, self-imposed spotlight. I talk about my work. All. The. Time.
When I meet a new person, and they ask what I do for a living, the conversation usually goes something like this:
Me: “I’m a photographer.”
New Person: “Oh cool! So you do a lot of weddings?”
Me: “No, I actually work with scientists. I’m also a videographer and writer, and I specialize in documenting field work and research expeditions in remote places.”
New Person: “Wow! So you work for National Geographic?”
Me: “No.”
What if, instead of this awkward back-and-forth, I introduced myself with a more concise, compelling (and accurate) description of my work?
“I’m a professional science communicator. I use a mix of writing, photography, and film to document research teams working in remote places.”
In other words, I need to elevate my presentation literacy.
In The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking, Chris Anderson writes:
Presentation literacy isn’t an optional extra for the few. It’s a core skill for the twenty-first century. It’s the most impactful way to share who you are and what you care about. If you can learn to do it, your self-confidence will flourish, and you may be amazed at the beneficial impact it can have on your success in life, however you might choose to define that.
That’s my intention for this next year — figure out the most impactful way to share who I am and what I care about.
Exposure in this sense is both intimidating and a bit mentally taxing. It means asking for help when I feel like I should be able to figure it out on my own. Reaching out to people I’ve never met. Being vulnerable. Finding the wherewithal to put myself “out there”. Harnessing the mental fortitude required to not measure my self-worth by the response.
To incorporate this mentality into my daily life for the next year, I find inspiration and affirmation in mountaineering literature (surprise, surprise). In Mountains of the Mind, Robert MacFarlane writes:
Hope, fear. Hope, fear — this is the fundamental rhythm of mountaineering.
For me, it is the fundamental rhythm of this phase of life. Some days brim with hope, and other days I feel deluged by fear. It is the nature of being a full-time freelance adventurer.
And simply voicing that truth is a good first step to living this new intention. Bring it on 2020.