Since last summer, after shooting video of the Blue Angels at the RI National Guard Air Show, Scott and I had been looking forward to this year’s Air Show at Quonset Point in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.

The Blue Angels, from the Rhode Island National Guard Air Show 2009

If you can’t see the video, click: The Blue Angels.

This year, though, the cloud cover was heavy, it was humid out, and the performances we wanted to catch were taking place when the sun was high in the sky. Eh. Not the best conditions for shooting video that we’d already told people we’d be posting on our website. I’d even passed out business cards!

Rhode Island Quonset Air Show 2010: F-18 Hornet, Sean Tucker, and Thunderbirds

If you can’t see the video, click: Rhode Island Quonset Air Show 2010.

Being perfectionist about our work can be a blessing because we take pride in what we do, we give it our all, and our clients get the benefit of that. But it’s also what’s kept us, in the past, from doing the things we love — for me, writing professionally, and for Scott, publishing his music. Nothing is ever good enough, ready enough, right enough for us. Well, I don’t want to live like that anymore, and neither does Scott. We’ve decided to jump off the cliff together every now and then and say, “The hell with it. Let’s just go for it!”

To fight his own perfectionism, Scott has been writing/recording and uploading a new song every night since January 1st, 2010, almost every one an improv with no overdubs or rewrites. That takes courage, but he decided “The hell with it” and started putting himself out there, naked, every night for critique. He figures it’ll prove that he’s prolific and can handle custom music projects needing fast turnaround, like films, videos, and video games.

I’m learning to let go of my own mile-high standards and trust that everything will work out if I just get started and then keep moving. I finally started the not-anonymous blog Love Covers All after a year of mulling it over, even though I still cringe every time I hit “publish” (and I’m cringing even telling you about it). Because I have a terrible tendency to procrastinate like crazy on projects that require attention to detail — I want everything to be perfect — I have a list a mile long of all the things I “need” to do to this website, and another list of ways to optimize our internet marketing.

Rather than be paralyzed, though, every day I take a step forward. I have a Dream to catch, and New England Multimedia is paying for my ticket.

How about you? Has perfectionism been a blessing or a curse for you?

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Michelle handles all Social Media for New England Multimedia. You can contact her by email, on our Facebook, through LinkedIn, or on our Twitter profile.