Name the feeling before you make the thing. It’s easier to hit a target you can see.

Work without a stated intention tends to drift towards whatever is easiest. If you decide first that this should feel like the last hour of a long trip, you now have a test for every choice: does this colour help that, does this cut help that. Without the target you are just making decisions you quite like.

Before your next project, write one word or one phrase for how it should feel and put it somewhere visible. Check each decision against it rather than against your mood. If you finish and the feeling is not there, you now know precisely what to fix.