Passing that step [6-5k] is another story!
You should get valuable benefits from a regular practice of problems.
Besides i advise to have simple opening and games so to understand your failures and correct them.
When practicing reading, a new taste for fighting comes with, but provoking can lead to more upsets. It’s enough to keep patience and use your newly acquired power only when you have to.
Try to respect all the fundamentals the most possible.
- Like urgent before big, dont let hane on 2 or 3 stones, keep your liberties, play away from strength, push your opponent to the strength, leave the tail to keep the main, live quickly, check balance power vs balance territory, make clear what is moyo and what is territory, use miai and test moves, enjoy kos and aji, etc… etc…
Analyse your direction of play after each game.
With that should climb to 3-2k
Refering to your wish to play more serious, maybe play a bit less, and more focused?
If you do like 1 or 2hrs/day of problems reading, 1 game (or 2 at most)/day is enough to exhaust any serious player (and after that like 30mn min reviewing)
As conclusion, the way before 2k is to grasp how to build a simple game with solid tools.
If you get that feeling that you commit 4 failures and your opponent 3 and because of that he won, you are then on the right tracks.
(Consistency)
At 2k one can start investigating more like complicated josekis and other moves in the corner… (Enlargement) But this is again another story!