going.”
To the perfectionist, there is always room for
improvement. The perfectionist calls this humility. In reality,
it is egotism. It is pride that makes us want to write a perfect
script, paint a perfect painting, perform a perfect audition
monologue.
Perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of
the worst in ourselves, the part that tells us that nothing we
do will ever be good enough—that we should try again.
No. We should not.
“A painting is never finished. It simply stops in interesting
places,” said Paul Gardner. A book is never finished. But at
a certain point you stop writing it and go on to the next
thing. A film is never cut perfectly, but at a certain point you
let go and call it done. That is a normal part of creativity—
letting go. We always do the best that we can by the light we
have to see by.

RISK

QUESTION: What would I do if I didn’t have to do it
perfectly?
ANSWER: A great deal more than I am.
We’ve all heard that the unexamined life is not worth
living, but consider too that the unlived life is not worth