A minimal customization is likely to bring most benefits while still being easy to maintain and unlikely to break with updates. I have a quite small .emacs, an

A minimal customization is likely to bring most benefits while still being easy to maintain and unlikely to break with updates. I have a quite small .emacs, and tiny user.js, .stumpwmrc, .bashrc and a few others. I think it's the way to go. Try to use as little software as possible, stuff that is well maintained, and don't fight its defaults too much. In cases like emacs or vim, you do need some customization since they are trying to address such a wide userbase that their defaults are sometimes a bit odd, or just there for historical reasons and backward compatibility.