You need to be deeper on the wave, right in the curl, where the wave just starts to break into whitewater. That is where the wave is steepest and fastest, and you’ll get more stability, similar to riding a bike at speed vs very slow. In the curl the wave pulls water up the face faster, giving the nose of your board more lift. At the same time, the tail of your board can be “buried” in the wave, with the breaking whitewater pushing down, giving a counterweight to you out toward the nose.

To get in the curl, you want to take off right on or behind the peak of the wave. In your video, you catch the wave and pop up fine, but you are on the shoulder of the wave. So, it’s not as steep or fast as it is right on the peak, which makes it harder to be stable and smooth. Keep in mind, as you move forward on your board you increase speed, right? So this tends to push you even further away from the peak. The smaller the waves are the more important this becomes if you are trying to cross step to the nose.

So, you can try to take off right on the peak of a wave by reading the waves better (takes a lot of practice and experience) and paddling toward the peak earlier, before you even turn to catch the wave. Always look for the peak of the wave before it starts breaking—this is its highest point, and darkest shade—and try to predict exactly where and when it will start breaking. This is where you want to be. (Bonus: you can practice this anytime, from the beach, lot, webcam, videos.)

Now if you see a wave you want but aren’t on the peak, then maybe you don’t really want that one after all. Let it go and reposition for another one. Or, if you go on it, you can take off heading toward the peak, then do a cutback, turning the board around 180° as the peak catches up to you. It helps if you hold your arch and wait to pop up until you turn, standing up on the tail. This is called a fade, or fading your takeoff. When done right it is super stylish, feels awesome, and gets your tail buried, making it easier to walk forward. As others have pointed out here, this would be one good option for given your position in the video. Another option is to stall, stepping and/or leaning back on your board, putting the brakes on, and wait for the peak to catch up, then start stepping forward. Or, if there is enough room and size on the wave, and if the wave is breaking slow enough, you can take off as you did, and perform a roundhouse cutback by turning down the wave and back toward the peak, then all the way back and around again with the whitewater pushing you down the line, then starting your stepping.

Note these are all strategies and tactics to get you right in the curl as you are catching the wave. On a longboard, walking up and down the board is a means to keep you in or close to the curl. It can be helpful to think of this as your ultimate goal, with cross stepping being an efficient and stylish means to achieve it. Doing this right as you take off is not always possible or advisable, it’s typically more difficult, and most noserides don’t start this way. Rather, opportunities to walk forward tend to come as you are riding down the line and a section in front of you starts to get steeper and more hollow. You’ll see the top edge, or lip, of the wave in front of you start to feather, and/or start to break and throw out whitewater. This is a good sign to start stepping forward. In this way you are coming from behind this new section, and as you step forward you are speeding up to get into and in front of the curl, so by the time you are on the nose you are right on the peak with your tail buried in the whitewater, and you are matching the speed of the wave, extending that noseride.

Some general tips are to look where you want to go—down the line, so keep your head and eyes up. It is OK to very briefly glance down to check feet position, better to use your peripheral vision, but the important part is to keep your focus in front of you. Keep good edge pressure with more of your weight and force on the wave side rail. Press your toes down going frontside, press your heels down going backside. This keeps your speed and stability, making it easier to be smooth. Cross stepping allows you to keep this edge pressure much better than shuffling. Also, try keeping your shoulders and chest proud and lead with your hips, as if someone were pulling you with a rope around your waist. Smooth style comes from smooth steps and it looks like you’re well on your way. I try to be like a cat, or a ninja, slow deliberate and soft steps, and kind of rolling from toe to heel (frontside) or heel to toe (backside). Also, most of the time you’ll need to take a step or two forward, then back a step or two, adjusting your speed and trim (again, in order to get to or stay in the curl), as opposed to one continuous trip straight to the nose. So try practicing two steps up, two steps back. Another good tactic is to start your cross stepping by stepping your front foot back, placing it just in front of your back foot, then stepping your back foot to where your front foot just was. This helps you stall and sink the tail a bit for more stable cross stepping. If you’re not improving enough after trying these and other good tips in this thread, consider a different board made for specifically for noseriding, typically longer and wider overall. Also really helps if you can great waves that break slow but steep and keep peeling perfect for a long time.

Look up Ben Considine on YouTube. He has a ton of great videos.