A temporary lead can make caution look unnecessary at exactly the wrong moment.

Being ahead has a way of dulling the very habits that got you ahead. While the margin holds, every precaution starts to look like fuss, and the cost of skipping it stays invisible because nothing has gone wrong yet. The danger is that a lead is a snapshot rather than a guarantee, and it usually shrinks quietly rather than dramatically.

Pick one place where you are currently comfortable and ask what you have quietly stopped doing there. Keep the smallest version of the precaution alive, even when it seems redundant. Comfort is a fine time to check the brakes.