Got called out for my sloppy film loading technique

At a camera meet in Seattle last month, a guy saw me load my Pentax K1000 and said, "You're pulling the leader out way too far, you're going to get light leaks on the first frame." He was right, I was pulling it out about six inches past the mark. I started leaving just an inch of leader past the arrow, and my last two rolls from a trip to the coast came back with clean, clear edges on every shot. Has anyone else had a simple tip like that fix a problem they didn't even know they had?