Chase getting really good, not getting really noticed. Getting noticed tends to follow the first one.

Attention can be manufactured quickly and it drains just as quickly when there is nothing behind it. Skill is slower and it stacks. The awkward part is that the early months of getting good look like nothing from outside, which is exactly when people give up and go chase the visible thing instead.

Choose a measure that has nothing to do with numbers on a screen. Something like being able to do in an hour what took you a full day in January. Check it every few months, not every night.