Player 85s and active player need directions

First half of your post is a little confusing. However, addressing the second half (and the important part) is fairly straight forward.

The journey guides are vitally important and you need to persist. They also need to be your main focus and you need to be confident that you'll achieve them.

Youtube is probably your best friend here. My recommendation would be BitDynasty. If you watch a 'how to' video on whichever journey you're doing; I'm sure you'll learn something useful.

Also mods are a massive part of achieving or........unachieving. Get on top of mods at an early stage and learn how they work and what works. They make a big difference in every facet of the game, and especially journeys.