I forced myself to open up my game. I intentionally lagged at one point to experiment. It's easy to say that lagging is a result of your skill level becoming stronger, and thus opening you up. I believe the opposite is possible. I believe opening up (lagging) intentionally can make your skill level stronger, if you understand the loss potential. The cost of your education.

You get into a lot of close situations, and have to make a lot of tight choices. This forces you to start making tight reads, and investigate what it is to harvest a tight read. Your board reading skill becomes superior. Everything improves, since you're skating on tight edges.