I struggle, sometimes mightily, with the urge to make the work I do a certain way. I have come to recognize when this is happening by the list of “great ideas” that never seem to get born.

Yesterday, I published two video introductions of myself to the online political science classes I am helping as a course embedded librarian. The perfectionist in me wanted to learn Camtasia, hire out a studio director, and rent a sound stage for the production. But time is even scarcer than money. I had a 10 minute window to get this done and then had to move on.

I recorded my first 3 1/2 minute video in one take. Watching it I realized that I make a dozen unfortunate faces and say “uhhh” or “ummm” over 50 times.

What to do? I published.

I needed those students to see my face and hear my voice so they could relate to the email I sent with all the information about how the library was going to help them succeed.

And rather than apologize in advance for what the video was not, I am offering a small prize to the first student who successfully counts the number of “uhhh” and “ummms”.

A watched video is far better than an unwatched video, even if imperfect.