Sorry to get on a rant, here, but I think one quality a lot of people underestimate a lot is attitude.
Just like with anything else in life, those who have the perfectionist's attitude will more often achieve the results they're looking for -- or at least the odds are more in their favor.
Let's look at an example . . . how about the snare drum?
Suppose you take two guys of equal ability and knowlege. Give them a snare, some mics, and something to record on, etc. and give them a day or so . . . and when they're done, judge and compare the results or their snare tracks.
My guess is the guy with the the perfectionist's attitude will spend the bulk of those couple days listening to dozens of reference CD's with good snare sounds. He'll probably go to the local bookstore/library and read up on snares. He'll call friends of his who are good drummers and ask them how to properly tune a snare. He'll hop on line and type in google searches like "snare micing," "snare tracking," "snare tuning," "snare techniques."
He'll hop on gearslutz . . . or maybe even risk the humiliation of mixerman's goons . . . and post a question like: "What kind of compression ratios, attack times, etc. do you like to apply to the snare?" etc.
Basically, he'll religate himself to an audio nerd. And when all is said and done, he'll get the better snare track. Because he has the better attitude. He has the bordering-on-obsessive will to get the best results in what he's doing.
If he continues on with this attitude, eventually he will very likely be a successful, perhaps even wealthy recording engineer -- though it might take a few years, because he has the attitude. And if he doesn't, he'll probably be very successful at whatever else he chooses to do instead.
