There’s a certain sparkle I bring to things.
Not metaphorical sparkle. Real, obsessive, detail-oriented, “why is this presentation color-coded and bookmarked and scented?” kind of sparkle.
I gold plate. I am a gold plater. And I do it well.
Give me a project, a client brief, a chance to make a first impression—and I will build it like it’s headed for a TED stage, a Vogue spread, and a royal audience all at once. Fonts will be considered. Mood boards will be made. Backups of backups will exist in neatly labeled folders. Someone once asked me for a one-pager, and I gave them a 12-page PDF with hyperlinks, custom icons, and a glossary.
Because the beginning? Oh, I shine.
But then.
Time passes.
Deadlines creep.
Life life-s.
And slowly, quietly, the duct tape comes out.
At first, it’s just a little corner reinforcement. A quick fix. An "I’ll circle back to polish that later.” But before I know it, I’ve gone full bronze-smudger: still competent, still standing, but… let’s just say the sparkle has faded a bit. Now we’re in “good enough to function” territory. The Canva template is a little off-center. The email subject line doesn't zing. I’m no longer optimizing—I’m MacGyver-ing.
And here’s the thing: I don’t hate it.
Because while the gold plater in me thrives on aesthetics and excellence and delighting the socks off anyone who gets the first version—the duct taper in me knows how to survive. She’s scrappy. She’s efficient. She gets it done when the glitter runs out.
Still, I miss her sometimes. The gold plater. That sparkly version of me who wakes up with ideas and energy and a playlist of productivity bangers. Who wants to do it all, beautifully, boldly, with scented page tabs and a theme.
And then I remember: it’s a cycle.
It’s not a failing—it’s a rhythm.
I show up with gold, life happens, I pivot, I patch, I pause.
Then, when I’m ready, I go back to the sparkle. The care. The magic.
That’s the thing about being someone who cares deeply: you don’t forget how to gold plate. You just get wiser about when it’s worth it.
So if you’re in a duct-taping season right now, no shame. You’re still building. Still showing up. Still making it work. And when it’s time, your gold-plater self will be ready—label maker in hand.
TL;DR:
I gold plate when I can.
I duct tape when I have to.
I’m learning the wisdom of doing both.
And maybe that’s the real upgrade: not in the polish, but in the knowing.