give up and accept second?

[lucas9000]

in the last couple days i've found myself in particular situations where i'm either short-stacked or one of the short stacks on the bubble. i have been playing this scenario well and consistently making it into the money, and in the situations i'm specifically asking about in this post, i've ended up heads up against the chip leader. the times in question i've had around T3,000 chips and chip leader has had around T10,000 (i've been playing on full tilt, where everyone starts with T1,500 chips). now, i could grind it out and really bust my ass to go for first, but on both occasions i've just gone all in on every hand, telling the big stack what my cards are, to just get the thing over with. my thinking has been that it wasn't worth the difference in money between first and second, considering the time it would take and the significant chip disadvantage i'm facing.

now, i'm not saying i always settle for second, just that in the two occasions like this recently i've done so. is this line of thinking (that my time and effort aren't necessarily worth the less-than-50-50 chance that i'll get first, when i've already got second locked) anywhere close to reasonable? or am i just a complete boob?