This advice resonates well with me - many years back I was working on new area and I have learn lot of things by going depth due I am the early mover in the space. Initially it was difficult but in an year I built the similar muscle memory and I have become much much faster. This allign with your first point.

Secondly, there have been some fundamental changes and I started doing things in much efficient manner and lesser code and highly performant. This has given me a good reputation.

Back those days it was mostly working from office, so at times though I need to work for couple of hours I choose to go to office and have uninterrupted time to finish my tasks.

I used to have pet projects but not in the same but in experimenting something very different.