Help with indexing my drivetrain

In the hopes of clearing up my shifting troubles I just bought a new Deore XT derailleur, a new hanger, and a new chain. Unfortunately, I still cannot for the life of me get my drivetrain to shift cleanly. If I take out enough slack to get it shifting with down the with one click, then I can't shift back into the highest cog… If I get it perfectly shifting the higher 4-5 gears, then the lower gears struggle shifting. It just seems like I can't get all the pieces working at once.

Here are the steps I'm following when indexing my drivetrain:

1. Check the tightness of the derailleur bolt.
2. Check alignment of derailleur
3. Shift to middle of gears.
4. Check from behind bike for hanger straightness
5. Replace or bend the hanger straight if needed.
6. Shift to smallest gear and take clutch off
7. If chain droops, chain is too long or B tension screw needs to go in.
8. Adjust H-limit screw, screwing in until it makes contact with derailleur
9. Start slowly pedaling while screwing H-limit in further,
10. Once you hear clicking, back it out until clicking stops.
11. Turn barrel adjuster all the way clockwise until it stops, then back it out 5 clicks
12. Shift to highest gear and pull slack out of the derailleur cable.
13. Slowly pedal bike in highest gear.
14. Give 1 click
15. If it doesn’t fully shift after one click, shift back into highest gear and turn barrel adjuster 2 clicks counter clockwise to take slack out of system.
16. If you have to turn the barrel adjustor more than 4 times, reset the process and take more slack out of the cable at the derailleur.
17. To set L-limit shift into second to last cog. While slowly pedaling, shift into last gear. Tighten L limit until it makes contact. Back off slightly and check if the derailleur can shift to lowest gear.

Is my chain too short? Am I missing any nuggets of wisdom in my steps? Any help would be greatly appreciated!