Hello!
... improve handling skills, situational awareness & ability ...
I'm also flying a new type with a CSU & lots of radio kit and it is a bit of a shock...
Stay ahead of the airplane as much as you can, as trivial as it may sound. If it takes too long for you to collect the information from your instruments and operate the radios, the only thing that can really help is practising. Get the airplane connected to a ground power unit - or the battery of your car with jump cables if nothing else can be arranged - and sit in front of your panel for an hour or two every week. Scanning instruments and operating radios must become second nature, something that you don't need to think about. You need 100 percent of your capacities for other duties when instructing!
Do what all the youngsters do: "Play" with a flight simulator (Microsoft or X-Plane, which can easily be configured to more or less match the panel of your aircraft) on your PC for an hour a day. If emulation software is available for your instrumentation (for most Garmin units for example it can be downloaded free of charge!), use it. After some initial difficulties, our students now _have_ to familiarise themselves with the Garmin kits installed in our training aircraft before their first flight using the training software.
If you can use a procedures trainer at your FTO, use it as much as you can. In our FTO, instructors are encouraged to practise their own flying skills by "flying" in the FNPT whenever they want.
Regarding the aerobatics, I can't say anything, as I have never done that myself. But I know from my experience that instrument training does help a lot to improve situational awareness and flying skills.
I have been flying for quite some time, but started flying jets at age 45. That was almost like learning to fly again, as everything happened twice or even three times as fast as before. I strongly doubt,that any kind of "military drill" would have helped me to improve my skills. What I did whenever I had a chance (and still do if I havent flown for a week or so) was to sit in the plane whenever there was a chance, turn on the avionics and do "touch drills". Simple and efficient.
I've got a reading list for Xmas,..
In my experience, flying skills can only be improved by flying (or training in the environment of an airplane), not by reading. But everybody is different.