Focus on performance not outcome

Mornign all!!!

Still very much a beginner.  Playing some 10 mins rapid, watching some videos on YouTube, completing some analysis after my games (mainly looking for blunders), doing some other learning and tactics.  So hopefully doing all the right things.

When playing trying to do the right things, open to the centre, castle early, not hanging pieces etc.  What I am struggling with at the moment is seeing 2/3 moves ahead, I have a plan and then get thrown.

However what I am finding is that about half the people I play are trying to learn, nail the fundamentals and improve.  Whilst the other half are maniacs playing scholars mate and when that fails (I have managed to nail the defence) they go on a Queen ramage.  For me it just ruins the game.

So my question is, I think.  Do I need to do anything else at the moment?  I am struggling when I lose games, I am too focus on my rating.  Do I need to do anything more than play solid principles, analyse and study/learn?

Don't worry about your rating. It has no real value other than to help you get good matches.

Everyone struggles with the difficulty of making a good plan while remaining alert to what your opponent is doing.

It sounds like you are doing the right things. I think Puzzle Rush is a good warmup to get you looking for hanging pieces.

I recommend longer games,  in order to really have time to think about the position on the board. 10 minutes per side is probably too fast. Other than that, it sounds that you are doing all right. 

You might benefit from this, so here you go:

https://www.chess.com/blog/nklristic/the-beginners-tale-first-steps-to-chess-improvement

It seems that you are doing majority of things from there, but if not, it might be useful. It is almost a training plan up to intermediate level.

Thanks for the feedback - I have seen this advice a few times about playing longer games, I have started playing 1 or 2 daily in parallel.  I like 10 mins, because I know it can be done in 20 mins, then I can review.  Also it is good fun

I feel your paint.  I assume that alot of it is muscle memory, so it is the battle of giving yourself time to think and playing.  Its annoying when you are trying to do the right things, and there are maniacs, one trick ponys.  It takes all the fun out of the game.

I realised that playing Scholars Mate, literally does you more harm than good and actually when you do it yourself.  Its not satisfying to win that way

The other half should be free wins. If a player is making bad moves, punish them, and if half of your opponents are giving you free wins, you will quickly be moving up until you don't need to worry about them. If they aren't free wins, consider them practice about what to do when your opponent does go crazy. You need to be able to punish bad play as much as you need to avoid making it. In chess, just knowing your opponent is making bad moves isn't enough to surpass that, you need to understand why it is bad and be able to refute it. 

As for losing games, this is inevitable for any player playing legitimate games. As you improve, you will stop losing games to the players you currently lose to, then beat even better players to lose to instead. Focus on improving. When you lose, see why you are losing, did you use most of your time to avoid making simple errors and appropriately plan? Did you overlook a check/capture, or miss some kind of forcing move like a double attack? Etc. I find playing slow time controls helps to find these ideas, see what you are missing in the first place. 

The day that you become strong enough to refute queen rampages is the day that you will welcome them as a nice change of pace from the 1000's of solid players.

One trap a player can fall into is thinking that they know better than they really do, a move is not weak if one cannot find the right path. Knowing if a position is good or bad can be a superficial skill compared to knowing which continuations for both sides are better or worse and why.