Is There a Conscious Way to Avoid Being a Hack?

You state that a hack isn't something you want to be. A hack reverse engineers all the work, barely getting by. The hack has no point of view. It's simply what you need. So is there a conscious way to avoid becoming a hack? There are many conscious choices. Jerry seinfeld has famously said, i'm done with this material. An to do new material. I do that same thing often. We're constantly in a tense balancing act with that verses what change do we seek to make.