General guidelines for soldering:
Get a foil tip cleaner (not a wet sponge)
Don't try soldering a joint unless you cleaned the tip within the last 2 seconds
Use a temperature controlled iron (doesnt have to be digital..weller irons that use the magnetic style tip temperature control are fine)
Select a tip diameter that makes sense (0603 with a 1/8" wide screwdriver tip is going to make you unhappy)
Use solder diameter that makes sense (0603 with 1/16" diameter solder is going to make you unhappy)
Know when your tip needs to be replaced (solder should wet to a good clean tip instantly)
If it doesn't go well right away, you are doing it wrong. Stop. Think. Don't try to force it.
Using the tip broadside versus stabbing can have dramatically different effects.
Heat the JOINT not the solder. Feed the solder into the hot joint and it will flow. (Sometimes putting a blob of molten solder onto the tip first is a good strategy, but thats a bit more advanced)
Practice makes perfect. Thousands and thousands of people get paid near minimum wage to solder TSSOP every day. You can do it.
One more thing: if you only practice soldering on through hole vector board or twisted leads in mid-air, you aren't going to get better at soldering anything smaller or more precise..if that matters to you.
All good tips, although I diagree on the foil tip cleaner---I have used a wet sponge for years with no adverse affects.
I tried using the "brass wool" stuff & was completely underwhelmed.
The thing filled up with solder blobs & dust in no time.
Another point I would add is cleanliness.
If the things you are soldering together have dirt, oxidation, finger grease, etc on their surfaces, it is very hard to get a good joint.
The High Reliability Hand Soldering courses I took back in the day suggested using a rubber eraser to clean surfaces, then clean any residue off with solvent (at work, I used IPA, at home plain old Methylated Spirits).
Another thing they said was to clean your solder with solvent on a Kimwipe or similar prior to use, as leaded solder is very prone to surface oxidation.
If you clean some old solder with a Kimwipe (or tissue or paper towel or sheet off a"dunny roll"), wet with solvent, you will see a lot of black residue which has been removed.
New solder will be a lot better, but will still leave distinct traces.
Another tip was to "nip" any melted end off the solder before each joint, so fresh flux core is exposed.
They were also fond of Liquid Resin Flux (actually, if you use this, you can get away,without the solder snipping).
Unfortunately, my IPad doesn't speak imgur, so I don't know what iron you are using.
If it's one of the very cheap "pretend solder stations" with the uncalibrated knob on the front, you will be in a losing battle to solder.
These things have a plain old "lamp dimmer" circuit, where a Triac conducts over a fraction of the incoming ac waveform to get hotter or less hot, depending on the pot setting.
The main drawback with this idea is that the lower settings are pretty useless, & you will usually have to have them close to maximum to stop them cooling down when soldering, as the tip has very little mass.
Unfortunately, the tip is then too hot, & won't make good joints, quite apart from possibly damaging components.
They may feel quite heavy, but don't be taken in, that's not a transformer-----------they put weights in the case!
I would even recommend a plain old uncontrolled Mains iron over those things!
Ideally, you should have a proper soldering station, with "all the bells & whistles", but a very good substitute is a secondhand Weller WTCP .
These have the "Magnastat" tips, & maintain their temperature very well under load.