Why does DRY principle fail?

The most common reason DRY principle fails: Treating every surface-level similarity as a reason to merge. Not all repetition is duplication — sometimes two ideas share vocabulary but differ in context, scope, or claim. The test is whether the underlying structure is the same, not whether the words overlap. Premature abstraction produces vague, useless generalizations. Wait until you see the pattern clearly before you name it.

The fix: Open your notes, journal, or documents and search for a topic you care about — decision-making, communication, focus, anything. Find two or three places where you have written substantially the same insight in different words. Write a single new note that captures the shared pattern, give it a precise name, and replace the duplicates with links to the new note. You have just performed your first epistemic refactoring.

The underlying principle is straightforward: When you write the same idea twice you have not yet named the pattern they share.