You can borrow knowledge, but not action. - James Clear

Environment can multiply (or divide) your effort.

Before you plant the garden, study the soil. After you plant the garden, tend the weeds.

First, selection. Think carefully about the right person to marry or business to pursue or city to live in.

Then, cultivation. Once you choose, care for it lovingly and nurture it into the best it can be.

Simplify. What can be done in three steps should never be done in four. Each link in the chain is a potential breaking point. Fewer links means fewer chances of failure.

The way someone else perceives what you do is a result of their own experiences (which you can't control), their own preferences (which you can't predict), and their own expectations (which you don't set).

If your choices don't match their expectations that is their concern, not yours.