Every video and every person's video editing style is different, but the consensus is clear: for every minute of a video watched by YouTube viewers, hours of editing is needed.

My numbers vary wildly. A recent six-minute video took me an entire weekend to produce. Other videos can take a lot longer. One eight-minute video took me almost four days.

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I'm currently working on a how-to video that will be between 10 and 15 minutes long. Not counting the A-roll (the part where I narrate), the video has 128 source clips I'm sifting through and cutting down into a visual narrative. I've probably put in 20 hours so far, and I have at least as many hours ahead of me before I see a final result.

With the above in mind, consider these two thoughts:

1. Editing video is tremendously time-consuming.
2. If you can find a way to save time, do so.

These thoughts bring me to the two things that have improved my video editing productivity. I use Final Cut Pro as my editor, but these tools can probably help you with other video editors and applications.

1. Dialing it in with Stream Deck+

You're probably familiar with theStream Deck . It's a wired keypad that enables you to assign icons to buttons and then lets you define actions for those buttons.

The original Stream Deck has 15 programmable buttons, theStream Deck XL has 32 buttons, theStream Deck Mini has six buttons, and the new Stream Deck Neo andStream Deck+ have eight buttons each.

(Note: Don't confuse the Stream Deck with theSteam Deck . The Steam Deck is a handheld PC for playing games. The Stream Deck is a control surface for managing streaming and other PC processes. Today, I'm talking about the Stream -- with an "r" -- Deck.)

I have two of the original Stream Decks in my office. One is attached to my streaming studio, so that I can control all my devices and settings while doing interviews. The other is attached to my desk machine and is mostly helpful for managing shortcuts in productivity and programming apps.

Despite already having two Stream Decks, I bought aStream Deck+  last month. The big difference between the Plus unit and all the other Stream Decks is that it adds four dials and an LCD touch panel.

The dials are what do it for me. I use them to control my timeline, nudge and jog clips, zoom in and out at a specific frame, and jump between clips.

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To be clear, all of these actions can be done with hotkeys and a mouse, but the ability to turn a dial is both a wrist and a time saver. Plus, the process is intuitive because there's now a physical action for moving left and right and taking various timeline actions.

There's also something about analog controls that feels better and triggers the brain differently. Combining dials with digital actions seems like the best of both worlds, at least for certain actions and processes.

The Stream Deck+ with dials was the first thing that improved my Final Cut productivity, but it would have taken a lot longer to realize without this second item