diff --git a/init.el b/init.el
index afda2d3d6..e54173824 100644
--- a/init.el
+++ b/init.el
@@ -27,35 +27,38 @@
 ;;
 ;;; License: MIT
 
+(defvar doom-gc-cons-threshold (* 8 1024 1024)
+  "The default value to use for `gc-cons-threshold'.")
+
+
 (defvar doom--file-name-handler-alist file-name-handler-alist)
-
 (unless after-init-time
-  ;; A big contributor to long startup times is the garbage collector, so we
-  ;; up its memory threshold, temporarily and reset it later in
-  ;; `doom|finalize'.
-  (setq gc-cons-threshold 402653184
-        gc-cons-percentage 1.0
-        ;; consulted on every `require', `load' and various file reading
-        ;; functions. You get a minor speed up by nooping this.
-        file-name-handler-alist nil))
+  ;; A big contributor to long startup times is the garbage collector, so we up
+  ;; its memory threshold, temporarily and reset it later in
+  ;; `doom|disable-startup-optimizations'.
+  (setq gc-cons-threshold most-positive-fixnum)
+  ;; This is consulted on every `require', `load' and various file reading
+  ;; functions. You get a minor speed up by nooping this.
+  (setq file-name-handler-alist nil))
 
-(defun doom|finalize ()
+(defun doom|disable-startup-optimizations ()
   "Resets garbage collection settings to reasonable defaults (if you don't do
 this, you'll get stuttering and random freezes) and resets
 `file-name-handler-alist'."
   (setq file-name-handler-alist doom--file-name-handler-alist
-        gc-cons-threshold 16777216
-        gc-cons-percentage 0.15))
+        gc-cons-threshold doom-gc-cons-threshold)
+  (makunbound 'doom--file-name-handler-alist))
+
+(add-hook 'emacs-startup-hook #'doom|disable-startup-optimizations)
+(add-hook 'doom-reload-hook   #'doom|disable-startup-optimizations)
 
-(add-hook 'emacs-startup-hook #'doom|finalize)
-(add-hook 'doom-reload-hook   #'doom|finalize)
 
 ;; Ensure Doom is always running out of this file's directory
-(setq user-emacs-directory (file-name-directory load-file-name)
-      ;; In noninteractive sessions, we hope that non-byte-compiled files will
-      ;; take precedence over byte-compiled ones, however, if you're getting odd
-      ;; recursive load errors, it may help to set this to nil.
-      load-prefer-newer noninteractive)
+(setq user-emacs-directory (file-name-directory load-file-name))
+;; In noninteractive sessions, we hope that non-byte-compiled files will take
+;; precedence over byte-compiled ones, however, if you're getting odd recursive
+;; load errors, it may help to set this to nil.
+(setq load-prefer-newer noninteractive)
 
 ;; Let 'er rip!
 (require 'core (concat user-emacs-directory "core/core"))