Reading presumes a certain level of mastery that many will not have. But anyone can listen. Listen to as much content as you can, as much variety as you can find. You may not understand much, but developing a feel for how the language sounds will pay dividends later.
For me personally I learnt a lot faster after learning important grammar and reading more. I love going through vocab and kanji in flashcards but couldn't understand anything till learning grammar. Find what you learn best, then focus on what you struggle with and using the fun/easier to learn stuff as a sort of break.
Personally for me playing video games in Japanese is a huge help. There's less reading than in a normal book but often far more natively written sentences than you'd find in a textbook, and it also uses a lot of Japanese you'd probably never even encounter in a textbook. A lot of Japanese games also have voice acting, so you've got listening as well.
Some older games also used microphones to respond to what you say, so some even you could use to test your Japanese speaking skills. Unfortunately though, those are much harder and rarer to come across...
Do formal exercises like you eat your breakfast. A bit like you need build your muscles in order to practice a sport or a martial art. Quantity and quality is not important when you start but repetition and consistency is. Later you can do more when you are able to once your "brain muscles" are trained enough.
On the other hand, have fun reading, listening, watching or studying grammar that you find fun or insteresting separatly. Work on the quality here =p
To sum up, transform those formal exercices (like renshuu) into a habit that will not cost you to much energy or time everyday. Like physical exercices, you need to do enough but not too much either (especially when you start). And after that, just have fun learning what you want even if it's on a whim. Want to learn samurai speech? Go for it. As long as it fun and doesn't feel like a chore.
