> But you already know that you're coming out ahead, even if it takes you 10 times longer to design and implement the automation than it does to perform the task manually, because you enjoy the process of automating tasks. That's because you've cultivated your thoughts.

This is only true under the assumption that people automate stuff for fun. Businesses have a different incentive. They want automation to enable their pricey employees to take care of more tricky tasks, or to simply require fewer of them in the first place. A business won't give leave to their employees to automate processes just because they enjoy automating stuff.