The OP needs a plan and most importantly the right instructor. One of my new PPL's went straight to a C210 including all training for night and IFR ratings on the 210. However right from the start we had a plan for his first 150 hrs with a logical progression of dual, solo skill building and post IFR rating mentored flights. The IFR was all done in the airplane and while there was some "pass the flight test bumpf (eg, NDB holds
)" stuff most of it was set up as real world A to B flights to different airports and with weather conditions of varying complexity including a real world near minimums ILS and an exactly at minimums LNAV approach.