I love Stardew Valley but I do tend to struggle with this. Frequently, I find myself slipping into checklist mode ("gotta give a quartz to this person, run over to Clint to get cracking, get back in time to get the iron out").
It is super satisfying to design a cool farm, though!
Enjoy the deep rabbit hole you're about to jump in! I've got all the DLC, and no regrets.