I started "keeping-a-life-list birding" with my son during Christmas of 2014. My motto is "every bird is a life bird because I just never paid attention", and that's led to some deep introspection on my part. I really enjoy the duality of appreciating the truly mundane cardinals & chickadees compared to judging peep beak length at 200 yards in 90 degree weather to get another life bird. I knew of, but literally NEVER expected to ever, ever, ever see a Peregrin Falcon in my life, and now I've seen several in Wake County, at Cape Hatteras and at the Devil's Courthouse. Contrast that with a Black Bellied Whistling Duck, which I had no idea even existed a decade/year/month/week ago and yet I drove 3 hours and walked in the rain 3 more to chase one down... just because! I'm definitely a "brute force" birder, and it might take me 10 visits to actually spot a new & different bird, but I'm also learning to live with the maxim of "if you hear hooves, look for horses, not zebras" and not overthink too much. I really just love being outside even if its cold, rainy and windy or stifling hot with no shade.
We live backed up onto Durant Nature Park, which is the greatest back yard ever, and a great place to raise my two budding naturalists -- many of my pics are of things they found (like footprints or box turtles). We've spent the past two years digging out crepe myrtles and other non-natives & planting things for "The Three Bs" : bugs, butterflies and birds. We also just finished our own little back yard pond, and expect it to be filled with critters soon. Not a bad life.