Question

Hello Rabbi,
With Elul approaching: I am Sephardi. To what extent does the liturgy and custom of beginning to say Selichot from the first of Elul obligate me?
I feel the need to change the liturgy (for example, to that of Tzohar), and to begin saying Selichot like the Ashkenazic custom (the minimum practiced by the Jewish people as a whole), because this custom is tiring and long (at least in the Sephardic form), and I do not really find the faith-based or halakhic point of it. I do not think that by reciting piyyutim anything changes in God’s thinking.
Of course, God forgives, and in order for Him to forgive we need to ask, but I find it hard to believe that this happens through mumbling some piyyut. I should note that I think the same about prayer as well, and therefore there too I skip the parts that are more like liturgical poems, at least where there is no formal obligation. So with Selichot all the more so, where there is nothing formal about them at all, at least to the best of my knowledge.
I do believe that part of this is also supposed to create a process of repentance within the person himself, but I can testify about myself that this is not what causes it; rather, it is more the confession and the prayers of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Is there nevertheless any formal aspect to remaining with my ancestral custom? Is there something I am missing in my way of thinking?
Thank you.