Work Smarter, Not Harder

As I was putting the final touches on the slide deck for my webinar presentation, I scheduled a meeting with my cohost. We chose to use Zoom video call. To my surprise, I was not able to turn my computer camera on. In fact, there was this window pop up, which read, “Zoom cannot detect your camera”.

How could it be? My first thought, of all the times possible, it had to happen right when I had 2 days before the webinar. At almost the same time, I was thankful, because it happened before the day of the webinar, and not minutes before the live event.

I did not panic. I was not angry. As quickly as I could, I googled using keywords like “computer not recognizing my camera”. Immediately, many links popped up to troubleshoot this problem. There were also step-by-step guide videos and different options to solve the problem.

Diligently I followed the steps. I first looked at the official software site, then other videos, then explored the hardware options. I was trying non-stop. I was determined to figure it out.

Three hours later, there was no progress. I was going nowhere. After countless restarting of my computer, looking at the different tutorial sites (some of them probably repeatedly up to 5 times), and trying all the suggested solutions, I was not able to fix the camera situation. Somehow my computer did not recognize its own camera.

My husband was out with one kid at swim practice, then he played tennis. I was getting to the point of physical exhaustion, after sitting at the same position for the last 3 hours. Finally, I enlisted his help the minute he got home. I shared with him the situation and what I had done about it so far. As I was about to wash my face, my husband asked if that was the camera working. He turned my laptop around to show me and guess what – a window showed a working camera capturing my face.

That took all but less than 1 minute. My husband said he simply pressed the button with the icon of a camera (F6 on this computer).

What I could not achieve in 3 hours was accomplished by him within 1 minute.

My husband is certainly not a computer wizard. He simply looked at the situation differently.

There are several things I learned from this experience (or more like this ordeal). Working hard is a good practice, but working hard the wrong way will get you nowhere. Ask for help when you need to, so someone can guide you toward the right direction. Work smarter and not harder than you already are.

Even though things do not go your way, and by nature, things do not always go our way, do not sprout hatred or disgust. Do not get frustrated. There is always some good to focus on in any given bad situation. Focusing on the good keeps you more calm and composed, and sometimes you may even find a solution to the problem (did not find the solution myself this time, but my solution was to find someone with the solution).

Always expect surprises in life. Who really would have thought that the in-built camera of my computer would stop working out of nowhere, especially when it was working fine a couple days before? If you expect surprises all the time, when an expected incident pops up, you get to acknowledge its arrival – calmly – rather than debate in your head why it happens.

Keep things lighthearted. Yes, some situations may be serious but it is still possible to think of them in a lighthearted way. With lightheartedness comes curiosity. Curiosity to explore different perspectives. Curiosity to find possible solutions. Curiosity to think, feel and act smarter.