Just curious Rik, why do you say 3 or 4?
Tom
If you take 3 or 4 effects and learn them until you have them perfect, the sleights independent of the trick and the effects (essentially routine) themselves, it'll be easier to move on.
You don't want to overload yourself and learn a lot of stuff right away--look at a lot of stuff and find 3 or 4 you like, learn them well, and then you'll have a decent amount of variation.
Or you can choose 3 to 4 that routine well together, have a spectator cut to the 4 aces...do a packet trick with the 4 aces...do a sandwich routine with 2 of them...or even 'Honestly, Which one is it?' which has become known as 2CM.
Edit::You should take a book (like royal road, card college, anything else with a lot of stuff ) and go all the way through it, then pick the tricks that you enjoy the handling, patter, and presentation of to learn well.
You'll also get to see what kind of stuff gets reactions, and in my experience the more you do a trick the more you can adapt it to get better reactions (change patter, awkwardness during certain sleights/moments...etc).
You'll also get an idea of what stuff you enjoy performing (poker demos, packet tricks, self-working miracles, cards, coins, sponge balls(great for third graders...and adults, imo) etc...)
I found that card tricks are where I enjoy performing the most. Simple coin work, sponge balls(which have helped my hands for timing/general palming) and some general sleight of hand (vanishes, productions, changes) all fit into my repertoire, but most of it is done with cards.
And all that came after I learned some tricks, tried various things, and realized what I enjoyed doing.
Sorry for the long post. Hope some of it's coherent, I just kind of typed it out. And I hope it both answered the question and helps somebody (anybody...)
Also-This is just my opinion, I know magicians who all started different ways (learning tons of stuff all at once, learning just sleights and making their own tricks from the start and some who do any type of magic-they just love performing)
Anyway (to the thread creator). Good luck, and T11 is a good place for advice, generally there is always someone to help on any given topic.
I always end up typing more than I want...oh well, better to be thorough than have to answer another question.
Later,
-Rik