I get the most satisfaction from things I find difficult. Perhaps the greatest satisfaction for me was going from 'tone deaf' and unable to even play the recorder in school to being able to play sing and play many instruments well enough to have been in three (minor) rock bands.
I see model engineering the same way.
I have no trouble at all with the theory. I can perform any particular operation with as much skill and precision as the next model engineer. i take delight in getting a silk-smooth finish or a perfect fit.
Sadly I can't keep this up for an entire model. I enjoy problem solving and working out how to make things work. If I spent the time to get perfection, I would never finish.
I also grew up making plastic models, where the aim was to mirror reality, with grot, rust wear etc.
I also found it really hard to square the perfection of marine models with the reality of what real ships are like!
My Dad is a 'coarse modeller' who works to 1:48. his Warspite is longer than his car. It isn't a gold medal winner like the one in the show, but 10 yards out from the side of the lake, it looks indistinguishable from the real thing. The pleasure it, together with Cossack before and Sheffield after, have given him (and others) is inestimable.
So I am satisfied to leave perfection to others, and instead I enjoy overcoming my limitations in other ways. For me it's making models of subjects that, as far as I know, haven't been made by others. It's the design and planning, as much as the execution.
I'd love to make something perfect, but if the things I do make (see my albums) are good enough to make some other folks think "I could do that", I'm more than happy.
Neil