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The reason your videos feel awkward (and it’s not you)
Stephen Stanberry
December 19th, 2025
In partnership with
Happy Friyay, friend!
I want you to picture two creators hitting record.
Creator A fires up the camera when motivation shows up.
Some weeks they post daily.
Some weeks nothing at all.
Every video feels like effort.
They blame confidence. Lighting. Algorithms.
And quietly wonder why video “doesn’t work” for them.
Creator B shows up differently.
Same phone.
Same camera.
Same platform.
But their videos land.
People comment.
People reply.
People say, “That felt like you were talking to me.”
The difference isn’t charisma.
It’s not editing skills either.
It’s how they use visual storytelling.
Let me show you what I mean through my own mistake.
For a long time, every video I made looked fine on paper.
Clear lesson.
Tight script.
Good delivery.
And still… nothing.
Views came in.
Connection didn’t.
Because I was doing what most people do on video:
I opened with the point.
“I want to talk about storytelling.”
“Here’s the lesson.”
“Let me explain why this works.”
Translation?
My brain treated the camera like a classroom.
That’s when I made one uncomfortable shift.
I stopped filming the insight.
And started filming the moment before the insight.
Here’s the framework that changed everything.
A — Abandon the polished opening
Instead of starting with the lesson, I started with friction.
The pause.
The sigh.
The moment of doubt.
A half-written note.
A script I hated.
A look that said, “This still isn’t right.”
No explanation yet.
Just context.
B — Build contrast visually
Then I introduced the shift.
Not by saying it.
But by showing the difference.
Stillness → movement
Silence → speech
Confusion → clarity
One clear contrast is enough.
C — Communicate the lesson last
Only after the viewer felt something did I explain the point.
Same message as before.
Completely different response.
Instead of comments like “Great tip,” I started seeing:
“That’s exactly how it feels.”
“I thought I was the only one.”
“This hit way too close.”
That’s visual storytelling.
Not motion.
Not captions.
Context.
And video does this better than any other format.
Because people don’t just hear the story.
They see the moment it came from.
Here’s your Friday prompt:
Before you record your next video, ask:
What happened right before this lesson clicked?
What would someone notice if they were standing beside me?
What does the before look like on camera?
Film that first.
Then teach.
If you want, send me a video you’ve posted recently.
Or describe the one you’re about to record.
I’ll reply with one visual shift that makes the story land harder.
See ya tomorrow,
Stephen
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