How difficult is to go over a certain level of chess and what you learnt

As a young amateur my goal for a while was just to reach 2000 ELO. It wasn't too hard: my teacher said anyone with average skills could do it in a couple of years with hard study, theory and practise.

When I finally got over 2000, I was very happy. Something magically "unlocked". I was suddenly getting something I wasn't getting when my rating was below that point. Basically, I was already forcing positions and understanding patterns, but I missed the importance of the pawns, and in particular pawn structures and how they work together with pieces in the middle game. Also, I was starting to understand when/where/why exchange a bishop for a knight and vice versa.

I was really happy when I felt my level of chess was rising.

Then my new goal was to get to 2200.

A very close friend of mine did it and I tried to work together with him. I went over 2100 but I was stuck between 2100 and 2200 for a year. Then I dropped under 2100. I was hardly trying to get to 2200 but at a certain point I stopped trying, it was too hard for me. It was really hard to accept, but at the end I did, and now I'm just a random club player. My 2200 friend went over 2300 only once, but now he's stably in the 2200s.

I'm very curious to read your experience. How you reached (or didn't reach) a certain score, how you did it, how hard it was, what you have learned, what you think you were missing before. The feeling of "I reached a new level of chess" was great, but unluckily (for me) never happened again. I was hardly trying to find something I was missing to reach 2200, but I never reached that level.

Please share you experience.

@1

"anyone with average skills could do it in a couple of years with hard study, theory and practise."
++ True

"How you reached (or didn't reach) a certain score"
++ I played Swiss open tournaments and analysed and reached 2200+ FIDE.
At that time CM did not yet exist: you only got a FIDE rating if it was above 2200.

"what you have learned" ++ Good physical condition and proper nutrition

"I was hardly trying to find something I was missing to reach 2200"
++ You should analyse your lost games to identify your weaknesses and then cure these.

I got this,..

I struggled around 800-900 otb for a long time. I took a break in middle school, came back in high school, and read books. That’s where it really “clicked”, I suppose.

I hit a wall at the 2k mark, but I’m still working on it. Changing my opening repertoire to more sound and respected openings got me out of my slump in the lower 2000s.

That’s remarkable perseverance that you kept at it from 2011 to 2019.

The long green line is where I took my break, so technically speaking I didn’t really do any chess during that time. Had to change from playing because my dad told me to, to playing because I wanted to.

I see a common phenomena with my sparring partners where they just keep putting in the effort with very little  to show for and then one day you just wake up and perform better; out of no where.

Really? That doesn’t seem very normal. Most peoples rating graphs (at least otb) resemble a sort of curve like a log graph.

my current uscf rating,
 but i played a tournament on the weekend, which hastn been updated yet.

This might just be me but like you probably did not play a lot of tournaments prior to 2022 hmmm yes

including the one i played over the weekend that hasnt been put online yet, i've played 22  tournaments and 6 were in 2022, 4 were in 2021, 4 were in 2020, 4 were in 2019, 3 were in 2018, and 1 was in 2017

It got rated.