prayer

advice from me: 

• traditionally its done 3 times a day
• thats hard to do so start slowly incorporating it into your routine, start with once a day and so on
• if you dont have a siddur already, invest in one, or find one online (and if you dont know hebrew i think its important to have one thats in hebrew & english)
• praying is also talking, you can also come up with your own prayers

i like this article here by aish: https://aish.com/13-daily-prayer-general-2/

• traditional times of the day when prayer should be done
• how to build up the mindset & other etiquette & obligations
• how prayer times are affected the season or other events
• and a cute graphic at the end with a schedule for you if you need something to visualize

very similiar source from jewish virtual library: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-daily-services-of-jewish-prayers

• shorter read
• summarizes times in a table with circumstantial differences
  

if youre having problems just getting into the mindset of prayer in general or new to it:

• https://aish.com/four-steps-to-effective-prayer/
  
• https://reformjudaism.org/beliefs-practices/prayers-blessings/new-jewish-prayer-nine-tips-beginners

i hope this helped any!

So my advice if you want to set up a prayer routine (from someone who has had trouble doing so and hasn't been able to) is to start with a daily shema. It is the most common prayer and easiest to find. Saying it by itself is enough for a daven. If you want to, you can also add an amidah. 

I personally don't have a prayer routine. I pray by simply talking to HaShem. I tell Him my needs, my wants, etc. I thank Him. I question Him. The only time I ever do specific prayers are during special situations, like a holiday, or at synagogue, or when I visited the ohel recently. 

Most important thing is to find what works for you. That's different for everyone. Other things you can do is put up and kiss a mezuzah, wear a star, show gratitude to the world, or partake in any other mitzvot. Sure it isn't prayer, but it's more important. I prefer mitzvot. 

And yes, prayer itself is a mitzvah.