Getting better at chess

I have been playing chess for a few months quite frequently and my interest in it has seemed to peak as I find myself behind the board more than I ever expected to. I'm not neccesarily a high rated player but I'm hoping to one day become a titled player. I know this takes years of practice and study but was wondering from some higher rated players what steps I need to take to launch off my chess pursuit. Are things such as tactic trainers and books important to help with my overall playing? Thank you for the help.

You might find some useful stuff here:

http://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory

Read nimzowitch- my system

Silmans endgame course

And the art of attack by vukovik ( not sure if I spelt his name right).

Learn what position your strong in and what positions your weak in. Then play the ones your weaker in to get your self well rounded.

Find one or two world class chess players like tal, Petrosian, morozevich ect and observe and try to understand there style of play, move choices, and favored positions.

Practice when you can.

Build an opening repertoire that suits you and even look over games where elite players use the openings you like.

The Vukovik is a classic but you'll be working on attacking skills organically when studying calculation, positional imbalances, and even endgames since you'll be able to judge if you should go in for an attack or not.  If the attack leaves you better off positionally or if the opponent needed to make concessions leading (for him) to a slightly inferior endgame at best then go for the attack.  

What is an attack specifically? It is an attempt to dynamically change the position in your favor (or even as good as the position when you embarked on the attack but more comfortable for you to play) by going after the opponent's king.  If you think best defense leaves the opponent better off then don't bother.  

Defence on the other hand is a skill you need to learn on its own, the principle of economy and exchanging off the opponent's most dangerous piece are intuitive principles that are easy to discover on one's own, but obtaining a feel for counterplay and/or prophylaxis is important, as are controlling and neutralizing important attacking lines, repairing weaknesses, discombobulating coordination (Korchnoi was excellent at this), etc.  

Joetry is right for the most part though and the Vukovik book can't hurt.  

Analyse great plays like Karpov - Kasparov and try to find the move they´re gonna do.

Here´s a great example:

http://www.chess.com/download/view/kasparov---karpov-book24-games-in-pdf