I used to sit down and treat poker like the pub pokies with extra steps... way too many hands, random calls, trying to look clever with bluffs when I had bugger all. Proper leakfest. Lately I forced myself to do the boring stuff everyone keeps banging on about - fold the rubbish, play stronger hands, chill out when I'm out of position - and yeah, turns out that stuff works for a reason.
Biggest change for me was honestly just not feeling like I had to be in every hand. Sounds dead simple, but once I stopped chucking chips in with suited junk and weak aces, I was in way fewer ugly spots. I also started paying more attention to where I was sitting at the table. Being last to act feels like cheating compared to guessing from early position. Wish I took that seriously sooner.
The other thing that helped was cutting out the hero bluffs. Ngl, when you're new it's easy to get a bit excited and think every hand needs some spicy move. Most of the time I was just lighting money on fire. Value betting decent hands and folding when the board gets gross has been way better than trying to outsmart everyone every second hand.
I'm still learning heaps, not pretending I've cracked it, but the basic stuff has done more for me than any fancy trick. Keen to hear what clicked first for everyone else - was it hand selection, position, bankroll stuff, reading players, whatever? And if you've got one tip you'd give someone just starting out, chuck it in here.