how to improve

I think this has probably been discussed before but would appreciate any feedback.

I find that doing the tactics trainer and just playing vs those better than me (which is pretty much everyone) are the most helpful in improving.

I have found that studying openings is a little over my head at this point because it's hard to see where they are leading. 

Any suggestions for further improvement; at what point is serious study of openings appropriate? 

I'm relatively bad and new myself, but I personally have found that selecting a few openings and limit yourself on these will help build up a world that you are familiar with. As you encounter unfamiliar responses, go back after the game and see what went wrong and try to smooth out your strategy.

I have tried to limit myself on Sicilian variations as black, and queens gambit as white since it's comprehensive amounts of information available on these, and to me at least they feel aggressive \ sharp and I love when tactics come into play. :) 

If it's in any way relatable to RTS like Starcraft \ Warcraft, openings \ build orders is what sets you up for the game and if these are sub-optimal, you will struggle in the mid to late game. 

edit:
I also love tactics trainer and the coach. :) As an extra note, the computer analysis can be helpful provided for plat \ diamondusers, and you can also use the game explorer to "plot in" the moves and find your inaccuracies early on! It's really good.  

Thanks for the feedback. BTW give the tactics trainer a try if you haven't

Ive been playing for about a year, when I first started I was trying to study all the different openings and trying to find what worked, I found myself lost and maybe even worse at the game. Since then I have switched to only using one opening and learning it. Now I am more aware of my own playing style and I have seen my game steadily improving because I am able to avoid making my usual mistakes. 

I would say playing a lot of games and sticking to minimal openings is best, allow yourself to learn about yourself and begin to shape that game.

then again I've only been playing for a year so I wouldn't say I'm in a position to give any advice.

I think playing long games really helped me improve, blitz is for fun and to practice openings and bullet is just for the thrill. Doing lots of tactics will without a doubt make you improve.  Btw, I have been playing for nearly two years.

I did not notice this thread was posted 2 years ago, sorry for the bump.