I'm about to start skyrim for the first time. I previously planned to just pass up this Bethesda-style RPG, but I received a copy of the game as a gift.

I know basically nothing about TES or skyrim, other than the premise itself and the standard memes that get thrown around reddit. Unfortunately, I only have the game on console, so I'll have to play it 100% vanilla.

What advice can you give a newbie to start out Skyrim right? What did you wish you knew before beginning the game for the first time yourself? What mistakes did you make (in terms of character creation, leveling, factions, etc) that others should learn from?

EDIT: Thank you everyone for your comments! You've given me a lot of great advice!