For me a mere Pplh I always worked out my performance and W&B on the days I flew. Followed by a powercheck at landing site before committing to land to see if the donkey was performing as expected. Also wind as expected etc. I am a mechanical type person so fully understood the reasons re carb heat etc etc.
I would say some of my fellow pplh didn't seem to grasp the mechanical limitations the way I did. Questions like " how do you know that kind of stuff"
My answer was it was in the syllabus and I'm into it and study it to death.
R