A careful baker counts cooling time as part of making the cake.

The work is not over when the heat is. Structure sets as things cool, moisture redistributes, flavour settles, and cutting too soon undoes a good part of what the oven achieved. Treating the wait as an optional extra at the end is how careful work gets spoiled in the last ten minutes.

Wherever you make something, build the settling into the schedule rather than treating it as delay. Let the paint dry properly. Let the letter sit overnight before sending. The finishing stage rarely announces itself, and it is doing as much as the visible part did.