It may sound strange coming from the president and CEO of a credit scoring company, but when I meet someone obsessing over his or her credit score, I always tell them the same thing: don’t worry so much about being up 10 points or down 20. Instead, focus on the direction your score is moving in and investigate how individual items in your history are helping or hurting your credit profile. Once you put that knowledge into action, and can do more of the positive behaviors and minimize the negatives ones your good score will come. Here’s how it works.

Credit score models like VantageScore are “generic” models, meaning they are made available for use by all consumer loan providers. Generic credit score models calculate a score by running a consumer’s payment and debt management information found in their credit file through a complex mathematical formula to derive a three-digit number. Most credit score models result in a number — the higher the number, the better the score. And if the consumer properly considers the information in the credit file, and manages debt behavior in a responsible manner, the score should improve.

Most lenders report consumer payment and debt behavior to three separate national credit reporting agencies — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — which each maintain a credit file on you. That credit file information is combined into your credit report at each of the bureaus and is used to calculate your credit scores. As credit file information is updated at each bureau, your credit report is similarly updated, and as a result, your credit score may change.

The most important step is to be sensible about your debt management so that lenders don’t report negative information to your credit file. Even a single 30-day late payment on your report will show up on your credit report and can negatively impact your score.

You also want to thoroughly examine your credit reports on at least an annual basis for accuracy. Check your credit reports at each of the three CRCs once a year for free at AnnualCreditReport.com. Each report you receive will also provide you with the steps needed to address any issues you find. You can also use the free Credit Report Card to monitor your credit throughout the year.

Finally, another reason why I tell people to focus on credit reports over credit scores is because there are simply so many scores out there. Among generic models, there is the VantageScore model, multiple FICO models, and the bureaus also provide their own credit score models to lenders. Each credit score model may differ in terms of the weightings of certain factors or how it is constructed. For example, a model might place a greater emphasis on the balance of your credit card.