2. Test those solutions,
3. Try to merge different solutions together to build new use cases,
4. Hands-on, Hands-on, Hands-on, there is a big gap between designing solutions and implementing them, small details you could be missed during designing can eat a lot of time and effort later, is better when you know the tools, technologies you want to implement at a lower level,
5. Optional (if your solution target is on-prem, try to build a home lab, if is for the cloud, try to get some free credits and get familiar with the environments).
I'm actually really interested in reading other people's thoughts.