How Do You Stop Second-Guessing Every Video You Post?

Before you do another take, decide whether the video is a hat, a haircut or a tattoo. Only a tattoo, the evergreen video that sits on your homepage, deserves the retakes. Everything else is a fleeting moment: give it a time limit, stop retaking it, publish it and get back to the work that brings in clients.

That is the test Chris Schwager gave members of the Video Confidence Collective in a coaching session on perfectionism, and it sits inside the wider guide to video coaching and on-camera confidence. The video on this page is the clip from that session. The thinking is below so you can use it on the next video you are tempted to redo.

Is quality or quantity more important for business video?

The session opened with a clip Chris played of another creator arguing for volume: "Quantity is not debatable." And then: "Quality is subjective." Nobody can agree on what quality even is. Is it the lighting, the audio, the substance?

Chris took it straight to what perfectionism sounds like in your own head: "every time you're up against a quality decision, it's the same as I didn't say it right. I didn't collect my thoughts." In his view that voice is mindset, not standards, and it is the thing stopping you from executing as fast as you could.

So the useful question is not whether a video is good enough. It is whether this particular video is worth more of your time.

Why does chasing the perfect take cost you more than it looks?

Because the time comes out of something else. Chris's instruction to members was blunt: "appreciate that that time is not free." Go again, and again, and again, and half your day is gone when you should have been calling clients and running the sales calls that actually move the business.

He gave an example from a one-on-one session with a member who works in a corporate organisation. They had two hours together, and she came in wanting help with second-guessing herself. The recording was for people attending one of her organisation's regular workshops, not for the public. At take two, they called it and moved on. Had they kept finessing it, the retakes would have eaten into the rest of the session she needed for other things.

Her pride had every chance to step in. She let it go instead, and the video still did its job.

When is a video worth getting perfect?

When it is a tattoo. Chris draws the line at "things that you know have evergreen purpose and it's gonna sit on your homepage." Stuttering through one of those is worth fixing, because it will be seen for years.

Everything else is a hat. For the quick, regular videos one member was putting out, Chris's advice was to get them out the door. He did not even need to rewatch them, as long as he understood the structure: "if he starts with a problem, goes in a solution and gets the result out, that's it, that's all he needs to do."

Then the reminder that takes the pressure off: "It's a fleeting moment." And, more pointedly: "That's if anyone even sees it." Viewers scroll on to the next thing. If the real problem is keeping up the volume, here is how to batch film content without burning out.

What if you're embarrassed by a video you've already posted?

This came up live, when a member said she would rather not share her content with the group. Chris's answer had two parts.

First, it is already out there. Once it is posted, it is shared. Second, your judgement of it is not the audience's: "Your version of cringe is gonna be different to everybody else's version of cringe." Someone else may watch the same video and want to know how you did it.

He called publishing the part of video production nobody talks about. You do all the work to get there, then at the last minute the doubts arrive: "What will people say? What will people think?" His advice is to shed the idea that every video is permanent: "Shed the idea that this is a tattoo that you're wearing it forever."

He pointed to his own channel, which still carries years-old videos about things Ridge no longer sells. One, about a SodaStream hack, has around 4,000 views, which left the question of why that one worked. In his words, "it's surprising how much we miss the mark in our understanding of what we're doing." You are rarely the best judge of your own content.

How do you stop second-guessing after you hit publish?

Chris measures the cost, not the quality. He wants to know how long each video is taking and "what's the energy, the load, the caloric load on you" afterwards. If you are still replaying a video in your head days after it went up, that is the load to bring down.

The discomfort is not a sign you are doing it wrong. The nerves and the sweaty palms, he said, are "all part of this process of healing and growing." Noticing them is what lets you break the pattern. And when you shift focus from how you came across to what the video can do for the business, more visibility and more awareness, the things about yourself start to matter less.

If a video really does land badly, it is rarely permanent: "If it's not a tattoo, it can be changed real quick." What counts is that you keep turning up. "For the purposes of you showing up, that's the great part, is you're showing up."

For more on the mindset side, read how to overcome camera shyness for good, or build real on-camera confidence from the mindset up.

If you second-guess every video and want someone in your corner while you get faster at publishing, book a call.

Perfectionism and video questions

Is quality or quantity more important for business video?

For everyday videos, publish more and polish less. Quality is subjective, while the number of videos you publish is not up for debate. Save the extra takes for evergreen videos that will sit on your homepage.

How many takes should you do?

For fleeting content, as few as you can. Set a time limit before you start. In one session Chris and a member stopped at take two, because more finessing would have eaten into the rest of the time they had.

Should you delete a video you're embarrassed by?

Not by reflex. Once it is posted it is shared, and your idea of cringe is not your audience's. Unless it is a tattoo, it can be changed quickly, and nobody will know if it was that bad.

When is it worth getting a video perfect?

When it has an evergreen purpose, like a video that will sit on your homepage for years. Those are tattoos, so stuttering through one is worth fixing. Everything else is a hat.

Video transcript

Auto-transcribed from the Zoom recording of this session and lightly edited for readability. False starts, crosstalk and strong language are removed, and member names are replaced with [member]. The session opens with a clip Chris played of another creator, marked below. Chris's words are otherwise as spoken. The video on this page may start or end at a slightly different point.

Clip played in the session: I will say it again, for all the creative people out there, demonising quantity is the great vulnerability of your career. Quantity is not debatable. You either make 800 pieces of content or you make one. It's not subjective, it's objective. Quality is subjective. What makes quality? Is it the production value? Is it the substance of your video? Is it the lighting? Is it the audio? I believe quantity is a meaningful competitive advantage. And I think the receipts have played out.

Chris Schwager: Yeah, every time you're up against a quality decision, it's the same as I didn't say it right. I didn't collect my thoughts. I didn't do this, I didn't do that. It's all mindset that is stopping you from executing as fast as you can possibly do it. It's just a lot of rubbish.

And like [member] and I, I don't think I showed that video. Did we show the video, [member]?

Member: No, I didn't send it to you. I'll send it to you so you can show it next week.

Chris Schwager: No, that's all right. So [member] is in a corporate organisation. We had two hours and we had a session. We just both agreed that we were gonna get it to where it needed to be, in aid of making way for other things in our session. Because, how'd we go? Let's just go again, let's get it raw, let's keep going and going and gonna try and perfect things that nobody cares about. This particular scenario wasn't public, it was just for people attending one of their regular workshops. So she just shed her skin. She came into that session and went, oh, I really just need some work on my mindset, just second-guessing and stuff like that.

And we did take two, I think it was. Yeah, it was take two. And I went, I don't know. And she's like, okay, yeah, let's do it. And she didn't let her pride step in, like, oh, I'm professional, everybody's gonna look at this and it's gonna be set in stone. She just went, yeah, let's move on. Had we kept finessing it and kept improving, it would've eaten into the other time that we had. So the same principle applies for you guys, no matter what your day consists of. Appreciate that that time is not free. It's not there for you to go, oh, let's just go again and go again. You must turn on the stopwatch.

You must look at what your time allocation here is, because if you go again, do it again, do it again, let's go again, then half your day is blown out, and you should've been calling clients and doing your sales calls and the things that actually move the business. And you've got to weigh that up. Obviously, for things that you know have evergreen purpose and are gonna sit on your homepage, you don't want to be stuttering and making a mess of it. But for the majority of the hat-style content that [member]'s putting together, for instance, get that out the door. [member] should be going, right, give us another one. And he goes, yep, cool, boom, bang, straight into it. Because [member] doesn't have time to necessarily think about how he's coming across.

He doesn't even need to look at the content. If he understands the structure behind what he's saying, if he starts with a problem, goes in a solution and gets the result out, that's it, that's all he needs to do. Because it is a fleeting moment. That's if anyone even sees it. It's a fleeting moment. Onto the next thing, scrolled out of there. If you guys want to check out some of the stuff [member]'s doing, it's really good to see you building that over there, [member]. Now, you haven't appeared much on these sessions, but do you have any questions for me on that content? I don't have it right in front of me here, but...

Member: No, Chris, I'm actually embarrassed by the content, because it's actually not great quality. I have the two different platforms. I've just got the really relaxed, just talking my mind on TikTok, and then Instagram's more the visual, authoritative content. So you're getting two different contents on the platforms, but yeah, some of it's really cringey. I'm happy not to share.

Chris Schwager: Oh, look, well, you have shared it, right? If it's on there, it's shared, whether it's for us or whatever, right? It's there. Everybody knows about it now. And the thing is, [member], again, it's subjective, right?

Your version of cringe is gonna be different to everybody else's version of cringe. They're probably gonna look at it and go, "Oh, that's a great idea, I'll take that. How did you do it?" Right? But because you're in your head, saying certain things about what your content represents and how you are represented in that content, that's all conjured up. It's just in your head, right? That's the interesting part about video production nobody talks about. The publishing, where the rubber meets the road. You've done all this work and engineering to get there, but right at the last minute you go, nah, I'm not gonna put that out there. What will people say? What will people think? Okay. And that is the trick.

That's the part to shed. Shed the idea that this is a tattoo that you're wearing it forever, when it is a hat. It's a fleeting moment. And you'll be surprised, right? Because I've got content. You look at my channel, it goes back years, talking about things that we don't even sell anymore, and it's still on there. And one's got, you know, 4,000 views, and it's like, why did that work? I was talking about the SodaStream hack or something. It's surprising how much we miss the mark in our understanding of what we're doing. It's not often for us to make that judgement on ourselves. And yet we do it.

We do it because we're adults and we like to circle back in our minds 3,000 times a day. And that stops us from progressing and moving forward. Any discomfort you feel, just by me raising that in this meeting, is all part of this process of healing and growing, okay? The discomfort, the sweaty palms, the nervousness and the nervous energy that might be felt just here, is about acknowledging it and having the awareness to then break that pattern and realise it's not a tattoo. It's okay, this is okay, nobody's gonna hit me up about this. It's a moment. And if you flip what it represents for you into what it can represent for your business, in terms of added visibility and increased awareness, then the things about yourself become less important, and the reasons why you're doing it in the first place become the goal, the reason why you're actually getting out there, okay?

So that hopefully addresses a little bit of it. We can work on this in more detail, but use that: is it a hat, a haircut or a tattoo? That's the thing you've got to decide, okay? If it's not a tattoo, it can be changed real quick, and nobody will know if it's that bad. But bring it here and open up. Bring it into these sessions, message me on what's happened and show me what you're doing and what your concern is, because I'll discreetly be able to support you through that. Because what I'm seeing is great. Again, for the purposes of you showing up, that's the great part, is you're showing up. How you're showing up, again, is speculative.

Member: Yeah, I think that's the hardest thing, just showing up.

Chris Schwager: Yeah. What I really want to know is how long the thing's taking. Okay, what's the energy, the load, the caloric load on you and that thing? Because it sounds like there's a bit of caloric load post-publishing for you. It's like, oh, still second-guessing, self-doubt, self-sabotage going on. We need to break you out of that.