You can find Shortcuts in your Applications folder. I didn’t know where to find it at first either. I am not familiar with Automations although I have certainly heard of them (they sound sort of scary because I don’t know what they are, LOL!).
I recommend just playing with the Shortcuts. They won’t bite or let you do anything stupid. (Just one reason I LOVE Apple). They started out on the iPad, you know.
macstories.net has LOADS of shortcuts to download. The Mac will say it might not be safe, just ignore the warning.
There are ones that generate your favorite tunes for each year if you have Apple Music. It is fun to download and collect them.
They are like macros. I think that is what they are.