First off, I'm assuming worst-case-scenario, you're driving a beat up piece of IH junkiron like some people do. I don't know, though, so I'm just spitting in the wind.
Since you're new to 'this,' I think the best Thing you can do at this point is familiarize yourself with your vehicle. Do you have $60-70 to spend on a factory service manual? I know I want one. How much reading have you done on this forum? This place offers tons of factual info that can lead you down the "upgrade" road if you look through the reader's rides subforum. Hell, start your own thread! If you have a camera, that's even better. It's cool to see the custom work that the ihon builders have put together for people in the past, and one of these threads is sure to inspire you in one direction or another.
Here's some basic questions you should ask yourself:
1) are all my maintenance points covered?
I don't know how much experience you have with vehicles, but it is a good idea (especially if you plan on romping around offroad) to make sure the little things are taken care of. Your axles May need lube (and possibly an additive for any kind of stock "locking" system equipped), your wheel bearings might could use a repack, your greaseable points could maybe see a little attention. I consider it an all around "upgrade" to replace leaky power steering hoses. Maybe there's a bit of wiring that looks like it needs replaced. Perhaps fuel filters are in order?
2) what kind of luxuries am I missing?
Do you want some offroading lights, maybe? Look into the electrical subforum about someone else's experiences. Are you in need of a tachometer? Fuzzy dice? How many holes are in your fuel tank? Maybe you'd like to install some different bucket seats, depending on your fab skills.
3) where should I dive in first?
This is somewhat up to your personal amount of skill, partially how well you're equipped, and mostly how much you want to get it done. If your springs are still under your axles, maybe you want to fix that and "upgrade" your caster/steering linkages. If you think your current gearing is too sluggish, maybe you'd like a steeper ratio to keep up with your torque. Or perhaps exactly the opposite, and you want higher gears for better "daily cruise" rpms.
Then again, you could just sit back and let the ideas come to you as you gather the motivation and hopefully the knowledge to start doing whatever it is that you want to do.
I highly recommend doing intense research here before making any large decisions, though. Chances are, someone else has something to say about it.
