When making borscht, begin with the end in mind. Add ingredients in the order of how long it takes to cook. What takes longest to cook should be added first 

Fill a pot with water and put it to boil

Add salt (a teaspoon or so)
Add at least ½ t of dill. You can add more. Dill is very Russian
Some sage is good

I like to take my beef chunks, dust them with flour, and then brown them in a frying pan. Put oil in the fry pan, use a paper bag or a dish to hold flour and coat the soup meat in the flour.

Then put the meat chunks in the frying pan, let it cook on all its sides. Turn off the heat

Put a minced garlic in the pan to warm. This will keep the garlic from burning while you chop an onion. When the onion is chopped, stop and dump the beef and garlic into the water.

Put more oil in the frying pan and turn on the heat again. Sautee the onions.

When the onions are transparent, turn the heat down and add a big soup spoon of tomato paste. At least half that tiny can they come in. mix it up and let the onion tomato mixture get all goopy. Put it in the pot

Chop up potatoes (2-4) 
Chop the carrots at least a cup or more
Slice a beet or two, peeled or not
Slice off some cabbage

Put all these into the pot as soon as you chop them. It should be super bright broth, with the tomato and the beets.

Add a handful (1/3 cup or so) of some kind of kasha (rice, barley, or buckwheat)

Boil it until the potatoes are cooked. 
Taste it and add more salt and dill as you see fit

In Russia, this was a broth-y soup. Here in America, I make it super full of veggies
When you put it in the soup bowls, have sour cream and put a big dollop on top of the soup. For borscht eaters, mixing in the cool smetana (sour cream) and taking the first bite is a great pleasure.
Oh yes, a slice of dense dark bread is additional awesome.

AND make a bunch because it tastes better the next day