Earlier in my career, I felt the urge to optimize almost everything.
If a task felt even slightly inefficient, my first instinct was to improve it — automate it, document it, or turn it into something reusable. In many cases, that mindset helped.
Over time, though, I started noticing a different pattern. Some problems only exist briefly. They show up once, maybe twice, and then disappear. Spending time perfecting a solution for them often costs more than simply handling them and moving on.
Now, when I run into a small friction point in my workflow, I pause and ask myself a simple question: will this matter again in a week?
If the answer is no, I don’t try to make it elegant. I focus on getting through it with minimal disruption and keep my attention on the larger task.
This shift didn’t come from any specific framework or advice. It came from watching where my time actually went and realizing that not every inconvenience deserves the same level of thought.
Letting go of unnecessary optimization has made my work feel lighter, even when the workload itself hasn’t changed.
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