The thing nobody told me about gear after 17 tries

Context: I am not an expert, just someone trying to make Gadgets feel less intimidating. I wrote down what worked, what felt awkward, and what I would do differently next time.

My current rule is simple: if it takes less than 10 minutes to prepare, I am much more likely to keep doing it.

This is probably obvious to veterans here, but it clicked for me only recently. gear got easier when I stopped treating every attempt like a final exam.

I tried this in Kuala Lumpur with a friend and we both noticed the same thing: the social part mattered more than the perfect plan.