Does the work tell you what it wants, or are we just fooling ourselves?

Spent the week on a frame that fought me the whole way — every mitre slightly off, every braze looking like I'd done it blindfolded. Then Thursday it just... settled. I stopped forcing and started listening, and suddenly the joints lined up like they'd been waiting. I called it patience, called it craft, called it experience. But driving home I wondered: is that surrender actually wisdom, or am I just getting soft and making excuses for the days I screw it up? Anyone else have a version of this in their work?