1. Get an airband radio and listen to how the pros do it (or don't!)
Sitting in the bath one day listening to the radio, not very nice weather, certainly I'm not going flying that day.
One of the local club instructors comes on. It becomes clear that he's gone up to find out where the cloud tops are. (Quite who paid for the aircraft time I never found out.)
"Tops are about 5,500'. Hey, y'know what, I've never seen this much ice on a 152 before. I'm just managing to maintain level flight ... on full power."
This is a classic "don't try this at home kids" ... you'll hear others.