Isn't that what so much of what programming is about? Invest all the work once up-front so that the next iterations are trivial?
I also often find myself going through all the steps in one of these articles then when I'm all ready to reap the results of success I move on to something else.
Which seems to happen quite often when people customize their software, especially up-front, instead of over time. I suppose you could describe it as waterfall-style customization
Once you've learned a bit more, it becomes second nature to a) make the tweaks you need and b) filter out those you don't.
I, for one, enjoy the ability to adapt my editing/workflow as my needs evolve.