Perfect technique on an empty idea is a beautiful box with nothing inside.

Craft is easy to admire and easy to mistake for the whole job. Technique can be practised toward a visible standard, so it attracts effort, while having something to say cannot be drilled and quietly gets postponed. The result is work nobody can fault and nobody remembers.

Before the next polish pass, ask what the piece is actually for and what you want someone left holding. If that answer is thin, spend the hour there instead of on the finish.