When I was first learning poker, one of the best pieces of advice which helped my game was: "Value bet more and bluff less."
Like most beginners, I'd love to trap with big hands and like to check things down the entire way...I thought it was "balance" and disguising what I have. In a way it does, but then I don't win much of anything even when I do have the winning hand; not to mention that this also puts myself in a vulnerable spot to get outdrawn.
As I learned more about poker, then I became better at incorporating bluffs into my game (as well as occasional trapping), but the default thought with a good hand should be to bet for value. When starting out, I'm probably trap like 75% of the time and only value bet 25% with likely best hands. Now it is probably more than reversed.