"I feel many of us are lost swimming in a sea of opinions and juggling frameworks du jour, development methods, and business strategies, that it keeps us from focusing on improving our skills in areas that matter. "
I sympathize with this a lot. It's extremely hard to prioritize learning new things and improving existing skills over just trying to plow through all the things on your plate. However, I keep trying to remind myself that the best way to get more stuff accomplished is to keep "sharpening the saw"[1]. Making time now for improving your skills will pay dividends in the future.