The rules are fairly simple.
1. I am aiming to complete every "red road" and trail on my map under my own power. Whether it's walking, running, snowshoeing, nordic skiing, or biking, so long as it is my legs and lungs that get me there it "counts."
2. I obsessively study my map and take several GPS coordinates using my phone, gleefully cross referencing the information against the map when I get home, using a ruler and pencil to determine precisely where I was. I'm not concerned with the black roads generally. The thick dashed lines are typically County Roads that are accessible by any two wheel drive vehicle. The thin black roads have proven to be an inscrutable mishmash of private roads, de-commissioned utility access routes, driveways, cattle routes and otherwise random hard to follow trails. Between the fire roads, jeep trails and wilderness routes, I've got plenty to do without trying to determine if I'm trespassing or not. 
3. Whenever there is an intersection, we always stop to triple check our location. 
4. Every little spur counts. Every camp site, cattle watering site, dead end into the marsh. No off shoot is too small. If it is on the map, it is on my to do list. If, upon cross checking at home, I come up short, it must eventually be completed. 
5. Once is plenty. Just because I went up it, doesn't mean I have to return the same way for it to count. 
6. No cheating- integrity is everything. If I'm not sure, I go back until I am.