Actions vs. Overthinking

Plus: my first book for $ 0, the post that got me 1M views, and where to connect with filmmakers.

Author

Brock Swinson
June 16, 2025

My greatest strength is also my greatest weakness.

Let me explain…

For years, I was drowning in ideas but never pulled the trigger.

Now I execute relentlessly — idea after idea, project after project — but here’s the new problem: I'm constantly reinventing the wheel instead of using what already works.

Here's what this looked like in practice: back in college, I spent four years mulling over a movie idea (overthinking), then vomited out the entire script in four days (frantic action). The result? I salvaged five pages from this feature-length disaster.

But here’s the thing: this isn't a spectrum you have to pick sides on. There's a sweet spot in the middle called thoughtful deliberation.

The same pattern haunts my content strategy. One of my first five YouTube videos hit 2 million views. But over 100 others? About 500 views each. I've had one X post explode to nearly 1 million impressions, while another 100 posts limped to single-digit views. Too little thoughtful deliberation.

Here's my shift: I'm done shooting in the dark.

I still believe quantity breeds quality, which was the thesis of my first book, but now it's time to hit the quality target consistently, not accidentally. In social media, this means leveraging proven viral formulas, such as…

Moving forward, every piece of micro-content will use a battle-tested formula. Not fleeting trends — repeatable systems. I'll take my ideas and mold them into proven formats that actually work.

Over the next few weeks, I'm pulling back the curtain on this entire process: what works, how I'm adapting the formulas, and the real-time results.

Want to watch this experiment unfold? Here’s three ways:

Talk soon,

- Brock Swinson

P.S. A few dozen creatives meet virtually every Friday at 2pm EST to discuss next gen filmmaking in real time. Join here.