#1 many people have a very romantic view of poe, like its some "you can play whatever you want" game. its really not
if you want that, play grim dawn. poe has a very specific meta that you have to follow if you want to be good, and some builds are just way better than others. so the first thing would be i guess, do NOT play what you want. play the meta or go home
#2 poe has many different things you can do on start, and dont decide what you will do by what you like. you need a strategy before the league starts and you need to stick to it, like it or not
#3 which basically solves both #1 and #2 is what most people do. they dont bother with making their own build or strategy, they just copy it. its faster and it works, so i recommend that
#4 okay so 8h a day are just rookie numbers, the first ladder week that wont cut it. 12h would be more realistic numbers i think
!
#5 use all the macros you can without getting banned. turn off chats, poe is a single player game and those will just slow you down