Tips 2 and 3 I partially don't agree with. Let me explain.

Talking to everyone is frigging weird to someone in Europe. I love that about the States, that folk just talk to whoever they stand next to, but try and do that in Germany and you're the weirdest one of the bunch. While it CAN be pulled off, it takes a lot of consideration to not be awkward. It may be great advice for an American, if OP lives in Europe it should be taken with lots of salt. (I don't really know much about other places, sorry.)

For practicing conversations in my head beforehand: I did this all my life and seriously, it only brought me more regret afterwards. Be it because I didn't pull my answer off the way I was going to, or because the other person didn't say what I expected slash wanted them to. Just more "if only.." for me. It's good to go into a conversation prepared-like, but for me, the preparation is way too fast to drift into daydreaming to be of any use. I know you meant something else but OP, be careful about the line between prep and dreaming.

That said, generally this is great advice. I mainly wanted to add my 2 cent.