How can I stop overdoing everything?

With artwork, with houses I’m planning, with ideas I’ve had for camp and retreat centers which might have been doable …

I start out with a simple idea and am inspired by simple things. But plans quickly excellerate into the realm of things wished for rather than what is likely to be accomplished. And some ideas become more fantastical or even like fantasy than what would be done in reality.

The same is true with artwork and model building. Too much detail makes artwork look too “busy” and less likely to give that purer expression I had in mind originally when I was wanting to preserve or create an impression or mood.

Often times I am forced to tear something up and start over merely because I’ve put too much detail into it.

When I used to write sermons, I had a lot of good material but they became heavy with extraneous detail like dissertations and most of it was filtered out or never heard by the average listener. They were too long and detailed.

Even in English writing classes in college, professors noted that I had “too much to say”— 8–10 page assignments, by me, sometimes went to 20–25 pages, and all of it seemed necessary to support my thesis or central idea.

What can I do to narrow focus and keep things doable and digestible and realistic?