title: How to restrain one's self from the overwhelming urge to rewrite everything?
body: <h2>Setup</h2>
  <p>Have you ever had the experience of going into a piece of code to make a seemingly simple change and then realizing that you've just stepped into a wasteland that deserves some serious attention? This usually gets followed up with an official <strong>FREAK OUT</strong> moment, where the overwhelming feeling of rewriting everything in sight starts to creep up.</p>
  <p><em>It's important to note that this bad code does not necessarily come from others as it may indeed be something we've written or contributed to in the past.</em></p>
  <h2>Problem</h2>
  <p>It's obvious that there is some serious code rot, horrible architecture, etc. that needs to be dealt with. The real problem, as it relates to this question, is that <strong>it's not the right time to rewrite the code</strong>. There could be many reasons for this:</p>
  <ul>
  <li>Currently in the middle of a release cycle, therefore any changes should be minimal.</li>
  <li>It's 2:00 AM in the morning, and the brain is starting to shut down.</li>
  <li>It could have seemingly adverse affects on the schedule.</li>
  <li>The rabbit hole could go much deeper than our eyes are able to see at this time.</li>
  <li>etc...</li>
  </ul>
  <h2>Question</h2>
  <p>So how should we balance the duty of continuously improving the code, while also being a responsible developer? How do we refrain from contributing to the <a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000326.html" rel="noreferrer">broken window theory</a>, while also being aware of actions and the potential recklessness they may cause?</p>
  <hr />
  <h2>Update</h2>
  <p>Great answers! For the most part, there seems to be two schools of thought:</p>
  <ol>
  <li>Don't resist the urge as it's a good one to have.</li>
  <li>Don't give in to the temptation as it will burn you to the ground.</li>
  </ol>
  <p>It would be interesting to know if more people feel any balance exists.</p>