The Art of Editing: What to Keep, What to Cut
Perfectionism, cutting what doesn’t serve, and my first attempt at video editing
The sun has not risen yet, but I cannot sleep. My mind is on a loop now that it has my attention.
My thoughts circle around my latest creative obsession: editing a video. I’ve cut myself off from touching it again—I need to move on. One video isn’t going to make or break my career. It’s just a small step toward what I want to learn and accomplish this year.
I spent the week cutting, becoming intimately familiar with the delete key. At one point, I removed the entire first three minutes simply because I worried they were too boring.
Here’s the tricky thing about editing—not just in videos, but in everything. When we create, we enter a flow state, following intuition, building energy and momentum. A positive charge. It can feel like a spell, a moment where the mind turns off yet still creates.
Then comes the next day, when we sit down to revise and suddenly begin to question our own judgment. Did I really think this was good? At what point did I decide this was the right direction?
Creativity requires us to embrace two opposing states: the mad genius and the overthinking analyst. One drives the work forward without hesitation. The other combs through it with a critical eye, ready to cut away anything unnecessary. Editing is about knowing when to let them each take control—and when to stop listening to either.
But there’s another side to editing, one I hadn’t fully considered until now: editing can be a form of procrastination. It feels like work, but sometimes it’s just a way to avoid moving on. Like a friend who is always goal-setting and making mood boards but never actually doing the thing. It’s easy to get stuck in refinement, convincing yourself you’re making progress when really, you’re just avoiding the next step.
And here’s the real danger: editing can turn the analytical brain against the integrity of the work. Yes, refining is necessary. But are the edits serving the goal, the message? Or are they serving a fear of failure, a fear of imperfection?
I started thinking—what if we applied this to life? Editing isn’t just a creative skill. It’s a way of shaping what matters.
Without pausing and being willing to edit our own actions, we can find ourselves moving through life cluttered with obligations, habits, and routines that no longer serve us. Just like a video weighed down by unnecessary footage, our lives can become heavy with things we once thought were essential but now only distract from the real story.
Not everything needs to stay. Not everything deserves our time.
If I can delete three minutes of footage because it slows the video down, what conversations, commitments, or lingering doubts could I cut because they slow me down?
Editing isn't just about refining—it’s about trusting. Trusting that what remains is enough.
The video in question:
This video is based on this Year 1 Recap.
Personal Work
From a weekend hike to a frozen waterfall.
Hey, you made it to the end! Here's a secret for you—my thoughts while editing my first scripted video.
While I edit for clients with ease (it's simpler to catch slow moments and make decisions when it's not your own work), this project felt entirely different.
I used a new to me camera and didn’t realize that in low light, the auto-track focus wouldn’t lock. So my entire first shot is out of focus. Love that for me.
The forest was so dark that colour grading became a battle.
Thank god I read through my main talking points while recording—when I got lost on the trail, I literally forgot actually saying them and kept rambling on instead.
I couldn’t decide if I should add music. Then, once I did, I couldn’t decide which music.
I had a blast doing this, which surprised me.
Though I liked it, I think the next step is practicing more storytelling. Part of why I’m doing video is to document my life. I look back on the past five years and wish I had made a visual journal.
I don’t like the title screen anymore.
I cut out so many bloopers.
My hair is standing out strangely from my braid. How did I miss that.
I have at least three versions of the intro, I didn’t use any of them.
I spent a lot of time adjusting the opacity of transitions and overlays. No one will notice.
Cutting footage feels easier than cutting words.
I want to make some long slow videos now.