1) Have a family history with 1st Edition, up to the point of literally being known to sleep with the DMG. Look, old habits are hard to change.
2) Don't read anything on 4E except the excited writings of people who are familiar enough with it to actually write FOR it, and expect to intuit it immediately.
3) Try to translate your existing characters into it rather than build them completely new. This is not an upgrade, this is a whole new OS. Your existing programs may not work.