How to master any skill fast:
- stop studying
- outline a project
- start building it
- hit a roadblock
- figure out how to overcome it
- repeat 4 and 5 for the rest of your life
Most people don't get past 1, the rest spiral into complacency after 4.
If you want a rare life, you have to be delusional. Doubt can enter your mind, and it can sound reasonable, but if you entertain it too much it will slowly drag you down into stagnation. I'd rather reap the lesson from massive failure than do nothing because it's not "realistic."