Strive to make your workflow more efficient. I find it helps you pick up your work easily and be less confused as the songs become more complex.
What i mean by this is things like:
1. Have the right tools for the way your mind works. if youre a piano player, get a keyboard for not entry. if youre a synth-head and you find point and click automation to be tiresome, pick up a "block o knobs" type controller. This is arguably something you learn over time, but its worth investing some time into figuring out what works best.
2. make your studio a "no distractions " space. If you dont have a dedicated studio, find a quiet place like a library to work on your mixes in when your home space is too distracting. I often do tracking for my mixes at a coffeeshop.
3. Label all of your channels by what they are (Ex: Main lead, subbass etc...)
4. Put channels with Similar functions next to each other in the mixer/arrangement views of your Daw, and color code them the same. To me , this helps the mix feel less cluttered when i come back to an old mix that i want to update. I dont have to scroll back and forth between the melody and harmony if theyre not on opposing sides of my arrangement view or mixer. color coding helps you quickly identify parts that play similar roles as well
5. It depends on the daw and personal preference, but if you have the option to show all of your automation for a channel alongside of it, do it. having it just show when youre working on the automation works, but just having all your automations shown there when you open a channel helps keep you from forgetting to change automation as well when you move audio bits around. This may not be a deal for everyone though. i use ableton, so i gets annoying to switch automation views all the time.
Lastly, Dont go nuts with plugins. if you have a titan of a computer, do whatever you want, but in tune with the organization theme of this post, i find its easier to keep track of sounds and how theyre being affected if i dont have 15 plugins on each channel that i have to keep track of. Its also likely, that youll be less crazy with unnecissary effects
bottom line Whenever possible, keep your workflow well organized and labelled, and learn what tools and processes work for you. never settle on something if it doesnt work.