I've never understood this hang-up about rating. Getting a high rating is only meaningful if you are attempting to qualify for a title (IM, GM). Other than that, it means nothing.
A high rating does not produce good moves. It's the other way around... start producing good moves, and your rating will go up.
After the innitial jump it seems that the progress is getting slower and slower, how do you handle this?
From my 2 month experience is that if you focus more on the reasons that attracted you to play chess and forget about the rating will take you to the next level.