Improving

I must have played 40,000+ blitz and bullet games over the last 20 years and have been completely flatlined in terms of my rating. I figured, "that's fine, I guess this is just as good as I'm going to get." For several years I read chess books, joined a club, and even had a GM personal coach for a short while. Nothing. Now, all of a sudden at age 45 my rating has jumped several hundred points over the last year. At first I thought it must be just a statistical aberration, but it has been steady and continuous. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out why?? Is it just some newfound confidence?? That might explain a short term bump but not a steady and consistent improvement.
So why?
Here's my theory. I started playing daily chess! Really spending time thinking about moves. Sometimes 3 hours or more per move! I will also watch YouTube videos about the openings in playing as the games progress. The other new practice I've added is watching live streaming of GM chess tournaments and listening to the commentary. The combination of these three things coincides almost exactly with the start of this improvement. I've begun to believe the sky is the limit for my game and that is a great feeling after being stuck for so many years.

Don't ya hate it when that happens! Uncontrollable improvement, just like having too much money! But seriously, congrats and thanks for the tip.