First drone but no stranger to video.  Been working with video at a pretty high capacity for nearly 10 years now.  I thought I'd share my experience for others that might be in a similar position as myself, just figuring this thing out.

1.  There are a ton of people more experienced than you out there... learn from them.  watch all the youtube videos you can until you get the grasp of the "why" behind the "what" they are doing.

2.  Hit the record button.  watching a playback of your flight will help you to understand what works and what doesn’t, even if your goal isn't video.

3.  Forget about RTH.  fly home manually.  only use RTH if you have to.  learning to orient your mavic, use the HUD, map, etc to bring your mavic home, will make you a better pilot.

4.  Practice.  Fly squares, circles, figure eights, choose a light post or large tree as a turn around.  Get used to working out the position of your mavic in space.  

5. Each day, fly out a little further than you might be comfortable with.  Pushing the limits of what you think you can do will show you what is possible

5.  Calibrate your compass like it was a ritual.  If given the choice between a fly-away or taking :30 to do a calibration, then take the thirty seconds.  Do it every time you power up cold.

feel free to add your own tips as I'm confident I still have a lot to learn

#5 might have been something people did on older models but the newer ones that is not necessary and many on here believe it to cause more issues due to improper compass calibration, ie. near metal, having your phone on you

Re. #5 also:  Received my Mavic late November. Over 60 flights done since then. Many near home (near Montreal, Canada). Some within 30 minutes drive from home and several during a trip to the Atlantic coast in Maine, USA.
I have never calibrated the compass. It simply never asked and gives me the all-OK every time before flight. After power up, I give it a few seconds to confirm home position and away I go. Rock-solid every time.
I will calibrate the compass when it will ask me to, but not just for the heck of it.

No need to calibrate your compass every time you fly, much more chance of you getting a bad calibration if you continue with that, you will be prompted if your compass needs calibration.

All the other stuff makes good sense..

Frits48 Posted at 2016-12-27 22:58
Re. #5 also:  Received my Mavic late November. Over 60 flights done since then. Many near home (near Montreal, Canada). Some within 30 minutes drive from home and several during a trip to the Atlantic coast in Maine, USA.
I have never calibrated the compass. It simply never asked and gives me the all-OK every time before flight. After power up, I give it a few seconds to confirm home position and away I go. Rock-solid every time.
I will calibrate the compass when it will ask me to, but not just for the heck of it.

Agreed. I've calibrated my compass one time, only because the Mavic asked for it out of the box. There is no reason to calibrate unless you move a MASSIVE distance or unless the app asks for it.

By calibrating every flight you run the risk of a bad calibration by performing it in an area with high magnetic interference

What about range test? I flew mine out for just 1 mile I started losing signal, and when I am in Sport mode I keep getting the gimbal error. I panic each time I see that and go back to regular flying, but the range thing really ruins my hopes. I want to be able to fly it far if I can