Thought of the day:
All image, accouterment, support functions, and particular tactics pale in importance to being unrelentingly competent.
--> Competence means (1) being an expert at your core skill/skillset, constantly working to maximize it, and being one of the very best at what you do.
--> Competence means (2) being able to execute and produce results in a prompt, timely, reliable way using your expertise from #1.
If you've got this competence down -- and you work relentlessly to improve it -- then you'll be cut a lot of slack on the rest of the details. If you don't have this competence down or let your skills stagnate instead of grow, all sorts of nonsense is going to weigh heavily on you -- that wouldn't weigh heavily on the more competent man.
What's your expertise? And what are you doing to improve it?