As soon as you are 100% sure that your model is right, you're probably wrong. From a colledge chemestry professor. In other words, always be open to the possibility that there are things you don't know yet.

Don't come to me with problems. Come to me with solutions. A friend who was in the Marines was told this by his Sgt. Take some initiative and figure out what can be done to fix the problem. Then go to the boss and discuss possible solutions.

If you can't have it the way you want, want it some other way. My friend Pete's first rule of programming. Of course this applies to so much more than just programming.