The way I play is just to chill and enjoy the world, so to me its not a grind its a outing, I play around with the fights (like using the mace and swords special attack, or unarmed kicking greylings off cliffs, little things to amuse myself).
I build organically, basically start with a small cosy hut and expand as I go, making little nooks and basements and playing with the tools to make interesting sections.
I dont rush the bosses, and I didnt just bow the 1st boss, I took him on with a wooden buckler and a upgraded club and had a fun battle.

The trick is not to look at the whole, just enjoy the moments, there is no rush or limit, just have fun and the rest will take care of itself.
I even spent a evening re-building my whole house, a few beers and had a basic idea and had a blast.

A none modded trick to get ores from long places to a main base, if you dont want to boat the stuff around is to make a new world with a chest, then in your main world put all the ores onto your character and then logout, start in the new world and put the ores into the chest, then log back into your main and port to your base, log out and back to the new world and pick up the ores, then log back into your main world and the ores will be in your inventory in your base... a bit of a hassle but easier than boating the lot and doesn't need a mod.

Theres also a web site where you can generate the world map if you are struggling to find stuff in your world, just google Valheim map generator... I suggest trying to not use it though if possible.

In brief just enjoy the moment, and dont worry about getting to end game.

my little pad :

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1832396285905410194/DE26D898D617315EBBF66216F5658AA2964185BC/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false