I have made every mistake over and over and studied what people do that I like. I still kinda hold my breath with strobes. I have a mental block with them.

A friend of mine who lights beautifully(he has a portrait he did hanging in the smithsonian) looked at me when I asked him about a pretty complicated lighting pattern, and said "Keep it simple stupid". Basically, I was way overthinking my lighting. For a 3 day pet shoot(yes, it was 3 days of chock full shooting!) I had a main light right in front of the camera and then background lights as needed. That is how simple it was.

Don't try to make it too hard.