0. mental model: staging, local, remote. c'est tout 1. `git status` + gitk before and after git commands 2. guess upfront what the result of git commands will

0. mental model: staging, local, remote. c'est tout 1. `git status` + gitk before and after git commands 2. guess upfront what the result of git commands will be (in terms of gitk / git status) 3. be fluent with commit, push, pull, checkout, reset, merge, and possibly rebase (I call it required but it's opinionated) - you can safely ignore the other git api in 96% of workflow