Great article, thanks for sharing.
I have followed these exact steps for 23yrs and have been on step 8 for the last 3yrs including doing the Back-Door ROTH. The lesson to be learned is to educate yourself on all the tax shelters and retirement plans available to you by law and start saving as soon as you can. I started at 28 and thought I was behind so I bumped my 401k contribution up a little the first 5 years until it was at 18% and it's been there ever since.
Yep being informed, having a plan, and then executing that plan with intentional behavior is how you get ahead. I didn't really start saving until around 28 as well. It's amazing how quickly the money piles up once you start getting spending under control and executing that plan without fault.