How can I get better at RTS/strategy games?

Strategy and RTS are among my absolute favorite games to play. They are always so fun and dynamic and satisfying to watch big army clashes and whatnot. My first RTS was pre-Brood War Starcraft and I fell in love immediately! I played all the campaigns and played online on a lot of custom gametypes throughout my childhood. I also love city-builders like Caesar 3 and games like Age of Empires. There is just one problem: I suck!

Knowing full well that fun is the objective of playing a game, I still feel like I am experiencing a watered-down iteration of these games because of my lack of skill. I can play many other genres and be competent or better, like FPS, retro platformers, and others, but RTS in particular just wrecks me. I have never once won a game of 1v1 or any official gametype on any RTS against a human, but I can occasionally beat the AI if I dumb them down severely. My issue is not usually APM but the actual strategies I should use. The actual strategic elements are my absolute kryptonite when it comes to ALL types of games.

I found that reading or watching tutorials has been useless because they just teach you to build things in a specific order rather than how to properly set up defenses and whatnot and teaching the actual overarching strategies.

The first game that comes to mind is SC2. What has been your secret to getting better? For me, clearly shear hours have not helped, because I have thousands!

Thanks all!