NL is all about winning the big hands and doubling up. Sure you want to win some small pots along the way to stay ahead of the blinds, but the real goal is to bust someone and double up, but it takes an extreme amount of patience.
Last night I was playing $100nL at Stars. I had played about 200 hands and had only won 7. Luckily I was still a little ahead.
Then this hand was played.

Im the BB with A3. There are a couple limpers.
The pot is $4 and the flop comes. A95 with 2 spades. I check. UTG bets $1, UTG+1 calls $1. Looks like some draw to me so I check raise to $6. UTG folds but the UTG+1 goes all in for $50.
Now what the hell hand could he have that hes going to only call $1with a flush draw out that he now wants to go all in with? Im not calling no matter what, but this guy stinks and its obvious by how he played this hand. So now my plan is to watch him like a hawk and bust him. I even told him he was a fool for the sole purpose of making him think I was going to tilt.

About 3 rounds later. Im the SB this time with A3 again. Same guy is now the BB. One limper.
Pot is $3 and the flop comes T45. I check and it gets checked around.
Pot still $3. The turn is a 2. I have a wheel. I bet $2 and he instantly raises to $4. Limper folds. I dont see any reason to slow play because I want his $70 stack. He obviously doesnt know what hes doing so lets get it on. I reraise to $10. he thinks and thinks and I KNOW a reraise is coming. He reraises to $20 and I go all in instantly. He calls with T4. He followed the same pattern here of slow playing and then trying to pounce when someone shows interest in the hand and I took advantage of that. Now it doesnt take a great player to play this hand, but make sure you maximize your good hands like this one when you get the chance. No reason to try to trap this guy by just calling his flop raise when hes playing this way.

The whole point of this post is that patiance is the key to NL. What can be a disappointing session can turn into a great one in one hand. You have to be ready to take advantage when the opportunity presents itself.

Valuable lesson iceman. I believe patience is one of my biggest leaks in NL. I'm getting involved in the action on far too many pots leaving me with tough decisions on the turn and river. Any advice on correcting this tendency, other than "be patient"?

If youre playing online, playing multiple tables helps. You can fold alot and still be involved a lot of hands. Marginal hands lead to tough decisions.

I definitely agree Ice, just last night I played a 200 person MTT to qualifiy for Saturday's 200K tournament and stayed very patient and had some key hands and ended up qualifying for the tournament in 6th place.