The other day, I decided to whip up some quick earrings to wear this next week at school. Like most school kids, I have a few new outfits, so they deserved new jewelry. Even though I know how to wire wrap briolette beads, I found myself tweaking and experimenting with my tried and true technique as I started to make the earrings. What if I did “this”? What if I did “that”? Of course, this meant I spent more time making the earrings than I had originally anticipated. And my experimentation didn’t really yield anything new because I finally just used my old technique to make them.

I seem to be always tweaking my work, even my school work. During my holiday vacation, I spent a good two days messing around with a class I have taught for years, but of course, I started with that “what if…” thought processes and from there just went crazy changing all kinds of writing assignments, reading requirements, and so on. At one point, I thought I needed to have my head examined because I was spending all my vacation time messing with a course that worked fine “as is,” but I wanted something different, possibly something better.

Eventually, I came up with a course that I think is pretty interesting and that I’m excited about teaching it. Plus if my changes work out, all my work can be used over and over again until I get the next “tweaking bug” and have the urge to change it all yet again. Hopefully, that won’t happen for awhile though!

But all this tweaking I think is just part of the creative process that those who enjoy the process can’t help but be tempted by. Sometimes it can be a real pain in the you-know-what, but other times, we are rewarded for our efforts with innovative ideas that excite us and possible others. So, I think all this tweaking is worth the effort after all.

Are you a tweaker or a if it ain’t broke don’t fix it type?