I was buttering my joints way too thick for years without knowing it

I was working on a chimney rebuild in Springfield last month, and the homeowner's dad (a retired mason) was watching me. He just said, 'Son, you're laying down enough mortar to build a second wall.' I realized I was using a full inch-thick bed when a half-inch would do, which was wasting mix and making my work sloppy. I switched to a thinner, tighter joint and my speed and the look of the brick improved right away. Has anyone else had a simple tip from an old-timer totally fix a bad habit you didn't even know you had?