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.
In his third Design Matters interview, writer Seth Godin riffs on his 20th book—“The Practice”—a milestone text exploring creativity and the sheer power of doing the work and putting it out into the world.