Things that reliably work well don’t tend to draw our attention. They function in the background, and we often take them for granted.
On the other hand, if something is a problem, we focus in on it. Additionally, if something is new, it attracts our attention.
The problem with the above is that what is valuable to us doesn’t always match how much we notice it. We can ignore something of great value. We instead can focus on the new-but-trivial or the minor problem-of-the-moment.
What does this have to do with hledger?
I think that my use of hledger falls into the category of something working reliably well. I do what I need to do regularly and without much problem. That’s the way it should be. But it’s good for me to remember the value I get from tracking my finances.
In addition, what parts of our financial lives do we need to focus on, because they are important, not just because something is catching our attention at the moment? Are we using hledger to maintain our eyes on what will make the most difference?