If I'm cooking something I've cooked before I usually follow my own recipe. I'f I'm cooking something new* I'll try to write down what I did. When that something gets eaten, and I want the next one to be a bit different, I'll make notes in that recipe, so each time I cook something it gets a little closer to what I specifially want. It's a process, not an end result - although sometimes I end up with 'recipes' close enough to what I want that it's been years since I've changed them - and I get requests to bring them to pot lucks.
*often a combination of looking at a number of online - and sometimes book - recipes and then 'winging' it - except for baking when I'll pick a recipe and follow it pretty closely. But even those I modify each time.