You’re driven. You operate at light speed. You work long hours, spend your days moving from one meeting to the next, and eat way too many lunches at your desk. But could it be that that same drive and speed that keeps your business moving, creates challenges when it comes time for your video? If that sounds a little too familiar to you, I have a simple, practical suggestion to help you make a better video in your light speed world. That’s right here on Video Answers.


Thanks for joining me for this 69th episode of Video Answers, the resource with video production help for your business.
A few weeks ago I had lunch with the President of a national franchise company. We’ve known each other for a few years and I really enjoy our time together because I always learn something when I’m around him.
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   This particular day was no different as he suggested a book,  by Kevin Cashman called, The Pause Principle: Step Back to Lead Forward. It sounded interesting, so I picked up a copy. A few days later, I read these words.

 “All too often, we allow ourselves to be carried away by our busyness. We are too hyperactive, too reactive to even notice…In our urgent rush to get “there,” we are going everywhere but being nowhere.”
~Kevin Cashman, The Pause Principle: Step Back to Lead Forward

The Single Biggest Challenge

Over the next few days, as that concept began to sink in, I thought about it in the context of our business. I suddenly realized that that “busyness” is probably the single biggest challenge our clients face during the video production process. In fact, 4 recent client examples came to mind. Let’s explore those.

  • The first client: caused their project to fall behind schedule by not responding in a timely fashion.
  •  The second client: quickly responded to emails, but only to the first of 4 topics, leaving the other 3 forgotten.
  •  The third client: quickly approved their video without critically watching it first.
  •  The fourth client: missed their deadline because they didn’t have the internal infrastructure in place to roll out the video we delivered on-time.

The question is: are we too busy, too caught up, and too distracted?

Pause to Make a Better Video

I’m guilty of each one of these examples. So don’t get me wrong, this is not a blame game. Nor am I saying these people are not smart. On the contrary, they are very smart and work very hard. Regardless, like the rest of us, myself included, they too can get too busy, too caught up and too distracted. The good news is, there’s an easy fix for this. The longer I’m in this business, the more I realize that the single most important action our clients can take to get a better video is just to PAUSE.

  • PAUSE and respond in a timely fashion.
  • PAUSE and read each topic.
  • PAUSE and critically review your edit.
  • PAUSE and make sure you’re ready to roll out your finished video.

The single biggest contributor to the challenges we see our clients face during the video production process is not budget, schedule, capabilities, or infrastructure. It’s a lack of PAUSE. I get that we are all busy and we get pulled in too many directions. But as Mr. Cashman points out:
Don’t rush. Don’t react. Set aside time. Give yourself space to focus. Take a deep breath and PAUSE.

Pause and Engage

I promise that PAUSE can become the single most important action you can take to get a better video. Pausing is not just for clients, but it’s key to your audience as well. If you think about it, PAUSE is what you want your audience to do. So, next time you want to explore a great way to help your audience, just PAUSE and engage. Now if this episode has made you PAUSE or created more questions than answers, let me know by leaving a comment below or sending me an email to answers@comprehensivemedia.com. Thanks for watching Video Answers— the resource with video production help for your business.