1) First, get a basic knowledge of all the different IM's fields
2) Learn the vocabulary, or you won't understand what you are reading and how to make use of it
3) Read about the journey of other people and try to learn from their experience what works and what doesn't (bear in mind that IM changes quite fast, so you should realise that what was working before could not work today)
4) Once you have enough knowledge to start a project, do it and choose something you like the most, something you'll want to read more and more
5) If you fail, try to understand why that happened, analyse your moves, and ask others' opinions
6) Stay updated
7) Don't start too many project at once, especially in the beginning, try to focus on a few project
8) Find a target, be specific and wake up every day with the intention to reach that target no matter what