Are you a chef or a cook?

‘Chef’ and ‘cook’ are incorrectly used as synonyms.  Cooks excel when they can implement recipes created by others, perhaps with their own added flare.

Chefs invent recipes.  They use first principles as ingredients, and achieve outcomes using creative means, sometimes constructing something never seen before.

Copy or create?  Conventional wisdom or new design?  Neither is superior.  There is a wise place for each.  Food is just a metaphor here.  It’s valuable to reflect on whether you’re operating as one or the other in each important area of your life.