Play makes competence possible by making repetition enjoyable.

Skill is mostly repetition, and repetition is mostly endurance. What play does is make the thousandth attempt feel like something you want rather than something you owe. The person who enjoys tinkering will put in hours that a disciplined person has to force, and over a year that difference compounds into a level of competence that willpower alone rarely reaches.

With whatever you are trying to get good at, look for the version of the practice you would do for fun. Add variation, invent small games, make it slightly absurd. If the practice has become entirely grim, that is a signal about the method, not about your commitment.