Your expectations for yourself and your playing shift forward with every small amount of progress you make.
Well they do for me.
I’ve gotten incrementally better at jazz and the violin in general since I first started putting real work in.
But I’ve rarely had the hindsight to think back to what I expected of myself last year or even last month.
I’m trying to think back now to when I first wanted to work on my tone about 5 years ago.
Doing this really helps me realise that I’ve come a long way in my playing over the years and that if I heard myself as I play now back then I would be pretty happy.
Comparing yourself to yourself and not others is the only way to actually get a feeling of accomplishment.
I’d implore everyone to try and do this!