I experience this all the time. I think pretty much all editors do. I'm rarely completely, 100% satisfied with a project; it happens, but not usually. More often than not though, I do reach a point where I know I am "done" with a project, and am ready to release it. This can look like a number of things.
Very rarely, this means that every cut and scene is exactly where it's supposed to be and the video is as close to my desired vision as I ever could have expected. This has happened to me maybe only three or four times, ever, in my 8+ years of editing. I've found that there's little to no way to engineer this particular endpoint; videos that I've spent
100+ hours on end up being very unsatisfactory in my eyes, no matter how much work and tweaking I put into them. Conversely,
6-8 hours can yield a video that I couldn't find a way to improve on if I tried. Sometimes the pieces fall into place, sometimes they don't, and I have yet to figure out how or why.
More often than that, even though I know a video is imperfect or lacking in some respect, for all intents and purposes the video is "done" in my eyes and it's time to move on to other things. Sometimes, this just means the video has some minor flaw that I don't know how to fix, or can't find a better editing alternative; other times, this means that the video is something that I've completely lost all interest and emotional investment in, but has had too much work put into it for me not to release it.
However, I never release a video until it's reached that point of being "done", however that looks. I have had countless projects in the past that I've started and then scrapped because they were bad ideas from the start, or were too much work, or that I simply became uninterested in as time went on and wasn't enjoying anymore. That happens, and it's part of learning about yourself as an editor.
That said, I think there are a few ways to figure out which videos are truly worth finishing and which aren't:
(1) Power through the times where you aren't feeling motivated. This can be extremely difficult sometimes; occasionally, you may find yourself staring at your timeline, trying to edit and NOTHING is working. That's okay. In those instances, you've just revealed a bunch of things that don't work, which means the next time you pick the project up you have that many fewer options to consider, making the process (hopefully) easier. The important thing is that you give yourself that time to actually work on the project. Forcing yourself to open your editing program and look at the video is often enough to get the creativity flowing.
(2) Only work on one project at a time. This, at least for me, is critical. This isn't a hard-and-fast rule by any means, but if you're working on multiple projects at the same time, it can be really hard to get fully invested in a single project, meaning that your full attention isn't there and your output is always going to be subpar. Some people thrive by doing this, but you might not be one of them. Give this a try and see if you find it easier to get through projects.
(3) If you've tried multiple editing sessions and you are simply not enjoying the process, consider dropping the project altogether. Editing is supposed to be fun. Have fun doing it. Understand that there will be times when it's frustrating; this doesn't mean you should give up on that project right away, but if you're finding yourself consistently dreading working on a project, it's probably not worth your time to keep going unless you're REALLY in love with the idea.
(4) Simplify! Some of the worst projects that I've had to work on (and consequently, some of the videos that I consider to be the worst of mine) were technically complex, intense projects. Some people love doing this kind of work, I'm not one of them. Ever since I worked this out and have simplified my editing style to something I'm comfortable with, I've enjoyed the process much more and my output has been (in my opinion) much higher-quality than it ever was before. It's good to push yourself in new directions and challenge yourself if that's your thing, but trying to do too much can be frustrating and incredibly de-motivating.
(5) Watch lots of videos! At times when I need inspiration or motivation, watching videos always pushes me in the right direction. Most of my motivation comes from other editors and other videos, and when I watch especially great videos it makes me want to make my own. Always make sure you're learning from your peers and those who have been around longer than you or who have more editing experience than you (or, who are maybe even newer than you but have more drive, or more talent, or both). Draw from everything and figure out what you want to do, then try it out to see if it's what you actually do want. Adjust accordingly.
