That moment happened, for me, the year before my master's degree. that school year was the first in six years that hadn't had a teacher. Because I wasn't a performance major - just a general music major - I didn't have any credits of individual lessons left. I knew I wanted to pursue a master's degree, but that meant that I was going to have to prepare on my own. No teacher, no advice, no net. Just me, alone in the spare bedroom getting myself to a level where I could apply to universities. I developed a deep love of technical exercises. Not "etudes", which are exercises disguised in music, but dry, unapologetically dull technical exercises. I still do them whenever I have time for an extended warm up. And I got in. All by myself. It was a huge validation for me after 2 and a half years of people beating me down, being at the back of the section. Felt good.