It isn't always the case, but I have found that pain is the #1 litmus test for "is what you are doing valuable". Some times this turns out to be a "you worked hard instead of smart" problem, but game theory wise one can assume that painful things are generally avoided or not fully explored.

There is a really good reason you are spammed to death with GPT chat bot clones, but have to go around like a beggar to find things that actually matter.