A good carry-on is not about fitting more. It is about knowing where everything lives so you can move fast between flights and meetings. Treat your bag like a small office with fixed drawers rather than a container you refill from scratch each trip.
Assign zones. Electronics and cables in one pouch, documents in another, and a small kit for the items you reach for mid-flight. When every category has a home, packing becomes a matter of restocking rather than deciding. Security lines move faster too, because you know exactly what to pull out and where it goes back.
Keep a permanent travel version of your essentials so you are never transferring toiletries the night before a trip. The less you decide the night before, the more reliably you leave on time.