stdragon :
Hope not. For those that aren't aware, never spread! That almost guaranteed to trap an air bubble, which acts as an insulator. Thermal compound should always be applied as a dot or line. That way, when you apply the HSF, the compound is displaced in an omnidirectional outward manner so as to prevent the entrapment of air. That all said, yes, be careful to not use too much so as to prevent spillover as well.
Different thermal compounds have different consistencies, and different heat sinks have different surfaces, which could affect which method works best, but in practice, it's probably not going to matter that much. Lot's of tests have shown that there isn't a particularly large difference from one application method to the next, in terms of overall thermal results.
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Thermal-Paste-Application-Techniques-170/
Here's a test by Puget Systems, for example, where they used a clear acrylic plate to allow them to show coverage and any air bubbles that resulted from a variety of application methods using MX-2. Checking with the clear plate, a number of tiny air bubbles were indeed trapped in the "smoothly spread" compound, but when it came to load thermals, that method actually had the second-best results out of the twelve methods tested, likely due to its good coverage. Only an "x shape" performed better in their test, while a "rice sized dot" was close behind, which amusingly tied with a "happy face" method that added eyes and a mouth. The line methods were actually some of the worst performing in their tests.
Of course, some tests elsewhere have shown different results, and a lot of that may come down to the kind of thermal compound, cooler and CPU that is being used, along with the amount of compound and application technique. It's pretty unlikely that one application method will work best in all scenarios, and a spread method is likely fine depending on how it's performed. Some methods like the dot technique can have their advantages in terms of ease of application and reduced waste though.