I'll be a bit realistic here and say, the most important kind of freedom to me is "financial freedom". There is no escaping the problems of living in modern society , and many probably are financially related.

However, there are a lot of privileges afforded to those who can… well… afford it. I realise a lot of conflict is due to money issues, so maybe it is not the best kind of freedom. But it will make life a lot easier if I can open up my wallet, spend on a couple of things, and not have to think about it.

Well the best plans never survive the first 5 minutes of battle, so the same can be said about learning a language. You can read lots of grammar books but will find recalling grammatical rules on the fly while speaking be very difficult.

I think you are on the right path, but don't think of the first two steps as "must have" skills before you go on to the third. As an adult learner you have the luxury of going back to the basics whenever you please, and I think they stick to your mind better when you go back and read the books you covered in step one.

It's like weight training I guess. A serious body builder will always have basic push ups and chin-ups as part of their daily fitness routine. Language learning? Same thing. You just have to keep at it, if you hope to survive 10 minutes into any conversation.