My grain of wisdom
I'm old in years but not in hours, but this is the main thing that underpinned my flying until I was compelled to pack in a few years ago on financial grounds.
I would say that to be a good pilot you need to be thorough, organised and meticulous, especially with the boring bits that you have to do on the ground, such as checking Met and NOTAMS. (How many times has a Red Arrows display been called off because some idiot has blundered into their display space because he/she clearly has not checked NOTAMS)?
Being meticulous and thorough, however, requires TIME. So it is necessary to arrive at the aerodrome with a good couple of hours to devote to it.
Every good flight commences with sound preparation on the ground. I made a checklist of all the preparations that had to be completed, or calculations made before flying, and laminated it in plastic. This could then be used every time I flew, completed items being ticked off with my permanent marker pen and the whole being wiped clean later in the day with some meths and a rag.
When carrying out a pre-flight inspection, (I hate the term 'walk-around check',) I would do the same things in the same order, so that if I was temporarily distracted then on resuming my check I knew exactly where I was up to.
Even my pilot case was divided up into compartments by partitions made from strong corrugated cardboard and packing tape so that everything I needed to fly had its proper place and its presence could be easily checked.
Well that's my two penneth.
Regards,
BP.