But were those old threads really that deep?

Color coding took too much time? But isn't the whole point of a bullet journal to make things quicker? I can't imagine setting up all those colors for every single task. Did you have a specific system for what each color meant, or was it just random?

Your messy bench theory reminds me of my friend's chaotic tool shed. His kitten kept batting at a jumble of cords on the floor, and he finally saw a frayed one he'd walked past for days. Why is it that pets notice what we overlook in our own clutter? He said the random mess just highlights things that are out of place once something draws your eye to it. Now he doesn't stress about tidying up right away, because a little disorder might show him what's wrong.

Remember that feeling when you skip a step and just know it's gonna bite you later? @logan169, I once painted a whole porch without scraping the old flaky paint first because my buddy said it would "hold for a season." Two months later it looked worse than when we started, and I still see that house on my drive to work. Makes you wonder why we listen to bad advice just to save a few hours. Now I just do it right, because fixing my own mess is way more work.

Is it just that these old crafts get quietly forgotten? @brianhill mentioning his grandma's snowflakes totally hits that same vibe of making delicate, pretty things by hand. I have a box of my great-aunt's tatted doilies that feel like holding onto a secret skill.