Start by fixing white balance and exposure before you touch saturation. Heavy vibrance on a weak base looks plastic.
Calibrate your monitor if color-critical work matters; otherwise, check edits on a second device before publishing.
Create a modest preset for your common lighting—daylight outdoor, indoor tungsten—and refine it instead of starting from zero each time.
Stop editing when the photo looks like what you remember seeing. Endless tweaks often chase a mood that was never in the file.
