Good design doesn’t come for free. It has to be something you invest in continually, so that small problems don’t accumulate into big ones. Fortunately, good design eventually pays for itself, and sooner than you might think.
Invest in good design with 10-20% of your time. This is not only true of designing code; but also in designing one's life. It might free more hours in the day now to not read, or continously educate yourself, but in the long term it is better to invest this time because you will be happier and have a lower mental load sinced you have reduced the complexity in your life; allowing you the freedom to really be productive.
Invest the time to design and cultivate your image of the future, and in so doing cultivating your future.
This needs to be done frequently to ensure the actions today lead to the result you desire.
