If you want to be successful at anything, focus on producing and shipping.
There was a time when I believed that to become successful at anything by any standard, I had to spend many hours studying about the topic, experimenting, and eventually making something out of my knowledge. That sounded good in theory, but it often translated in countless hours wasted on learning something that I would then never use. I later learned that there’s a better way to use my time: focus on the creation part and let the learning happen naturally.
What I’m trying to say is that you should spend your time on actually creating stuff, whatever that means in your field. At any given moment you’re either producing something or you aren’t, and all successes in life comes after you’ve produced and delivered something real to the world.
Remember that producing without shipping is also the root of all evils. I recommend that you read this article by Steve Pavlina to understand why it’s important to ensure that you’ll actually ship your product (programmers may also be interested in reading Getting Real by 37signals). If you don’t ship your product, then it’s the same as if you wouldn’t have done anything in the first place. Sometimes it’s necessary to throw away bad ideas, but make it an exception rather than the rule.
It takes courage to actually ship what you made, but its rewards are greater than the perceived risk. Make it a habit to take this kind of risks.