I would have said the exact same thing at the time. As it turns out, many of the "busywork" tasks are things that you'll want to be able to do quickly, easily,

I would have said the exact same thing at the time. As it turns out, many of the "busywork" tasks are things that you'll want to be able to do quickly, easily, and accurately as you build on your skillset. Repetition is how you optimize your brain. Quick and accurate execution of inner-loop code is critical. The more you can optimize, the more effective of a tool your brain will be.