And I am realizing that the average doesn't know what it means to follow "best practices."
This simply means that you don't have to re-invent the wheel. "Best practices" means following that which is statistically proven to work best.
There are best practices for design. Writing. Teaching. Athletics. Entrepreneurship.
Unless you're Mozart, don't reinvent music. Figure out the system. Imitate the best. And you'll be fine.