I sudo many, many times a day. Just the act of typing “sudo” seems a suitable safeguard against using inappropriate privileges. I type it when I need it. However, the default 5 minute timeout of the sudo command becomes unbearable over the course of the day.

To increase this timeout value, add a defaults line for the user you wish to modify and increase the timestamp_timeout value. A value of 0 means that a password is always required. A value less than zero means a password is never required.

Defaults:todd timestamp_timeout=1000