At some point you realize your best days are the days when you delete more lines of code than you write.
But that being said, chasing rabbits is what will eventually make you more skilled than your peers. Which is awesome, except now you'll have put yourself in a perpetual category of being paid less than your worth because you don't fit the same performance evaluation criteria as everyone else.
All anyone cares about is a) are you easy to work with, and do you b) get things done to contribute to profitability.
Continutally stressing yourself out by spending more time on problems than they deserve and eating away at your work/life balance does not contribute to a) or b).