Streaming: counter-productive or motivating?
This question is addressed to all streamers.
How is streaming affecting your productivity and focus? Do you feel like you could finish tasks faster or better when not working live, or engaging with your viewers is motivating you?
I think this varies greatly depending on the individual, of course. Personally, I find that it's distracting, maybe in part because it makes me feel a bit self-conscious. I work from home a bunch, and I need to feel free to sit (in sweatpants, with disheveled hair if need be) and be weird and get deep into thoughts and dance in my chair or get up and do - I don't know - a jumping jack if the mood hits me. An argument can be made that I could stream for just an hour or something, but then for me that time - since it's likely it would be sub-optimal in terms of productivity - would be better spent doing something else (e.g. cooking, laundry, workout, etc.)
All of that said, streaming seems to work for a lot of people, especially those who are sitting and coding away. And I've seen a number of people in the Science & Technology category of Twitch have a substantial number of viewers while streaming. So if I'm ever coding something, maybe I'll try that. For now, not worth it for me to fight my current flow, so to speak.
Thanks for your answer, @alex Funny thing is that messy hair, comfortable wear and natural reactions to music and everything else are what exactly make me keep watching a stream. I cannot keep watching if I don't feel like I'm resonating with the streamer, no matter how interesting the work. And I am like that, I sing when I'm coding, I love my sweatpants and crazy tshirts, and I think that good mood and small victories always deserve a chair dance :)
It definitely depends on the individual, the project itself, and the mood a person is in. Streaming can be a distraction, but it can also be really motivating and helpful. You find most of the twitch community is fantastic and supportive, they'll help you as much as they can.
By entirely depending on the project, obviously you won't want to stream client work or confidential stuff, and you need to make sure that you have the correct setup and remember to hide your screen when dealing with credentials!
I've personally not streamed in a while as the stuff I need to do I feel needs to stay private, at least for now. Plus with the pain killers I'm on and my current health issues It's hard enough to concentrate as it is, much less with others in chat as well haha.
@digitalsparky Oof… But sleep is good. I mentioned during the Ho Chi Minh stream this weekend that nap.live is available so there you go, nap streaming. :D I'd definitely watch for inspiration, I have insomnia issues.
@digitalsparky Lol I just joked in the chat during the stream because everybody was sleepy :)
As for seriously streaming, that is something that I'll most probably never be able to do. Not because I couldn't put together a list (actually I thought about streaming gaming, not work), but because I'm incapable of talking. I'd freeze or be incredibly weird.
@alina Yeah, most streamers get stage fright, but once they've done it a couple of times it's no big deal. Just interact with people as if they're in front of you.
Just give it a go, if you like it, awesome, if you don't, that's all good too, you gave it a go.
I'm the most socially awkward person, my anxiety goes off the wall, but I was fine with streaming.
@fajarsiddiq Did you find any thing helpful? For me doing more boring stuff ended up annoying me, not making me sleepy, so I gave up long time ago and just went with the (sleep) flow.
@digitalsparky That's exactly the reason why I was considering it, as a way to overcome my anxieties. What you said sounds very encouraging. :) Idk, maybe someday, but not in the near future. Right now I'm taking small steps.
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