Hey @chbartist thank you for your post. Consistency is key to achieve success in the long run. Moreover you improve your skills during that journey. Take steem as an example: if you are not an experienced writer you will begin blogging making some mistakes. The chances that your first couple of posts are a success are rather small. With every post you make you try to improve, working on your mindmuscles to create an even better output than the last ones. The quality will increase -> more people follow you -> more upvotes you get and finally more steem you earn :) some people learn faster, some slower but they all combine consistency to master their specific skill.
Thank you
M