I got fooled by the film montage.
In movies, when a section of the story features something repetitive, boring to watch, or otherwise un-cinematic, they can compress it into a montage.
The truth is, hard work takes time, and much as you’d like, you can’t fast-forward through the hard or boring parts. You just have to keep going, and trust that when you look backwards at your life, it will feel like a montage.
It definitely won’t feel that way looking forwards. Don’t be fooled.