I had a simular experience, vis a vie, poker. I got hooked on poker at 13 and lost every secession for 7 years. I didn't care. I loved playing. I reached a point where I had to borrow to stay in the game. I owed my paycheck, and I paid off my debts at payday every week, only to start borrowing immediately. One day I was called into the office and informed my company was in crisis. I was given a two week unpaid vacation. I couldn't pay my rent, debts, and living expenses with my last check. My first thought was to quit playing. That was very painful. I loved playing so much that I just had to find a way to keep up my addiction. I was a libertarian so theft was out of the question. I was 20 and committed to reason and thinking. I paced up and down, trying to come up with a solution. I couldn't think of a way to make more money. I was stumped. This was 53 years ago but I remember the moment of my revelation clearly. I found myself standing in front of a large mirror, looking myself in the eye. I asked myself: What is the root of my problem? It came to me suddenly. I was losing. Playing was not my problem. Losing was. At that moment I decided not to lose anymore.
I went to 3 libraries (1962) and found one small book on poker. I read it over and over slowly thinking about the advice. Technically it didn't help much. But I was playing in home games only. I had only one really good player to overcome. And I was armed with determination and a new attitude.
The two weeks came and went. I had forgotten about my old job. I was on a mission. I played much more often, every time I could find a game. I got a call from my boss after a month. He was anxious to get me back to work. I told him I couldn't afford to work anymore, I was self employed and making over double at half the hours.
I attribute my success, in the early years, to my attitude. My revelation was that I could use my mind and combine my recreation and my work. For example, the one winning player in our game had won every game, for two years. I began to suspect he was cheating. One day he did something unusual. He got tipsy. That was a big mistake. He began to comment liberally on our play when he was out, which was a lot. He called out our hands before the showdown. He told us how we would play our hand. He was always correct. I knew the cards were not marked because I bought them new. I began to consider the source of his knowledge. He must be studying us. He must be able to tell what we have by our faces. And how we will play that particular hand by our personality/history. If he could do it, so could I, now that I knew it was possible. That was his big mistake, proving to me it was possible. It opened up my game, and my mind to new possibilities.
Playing the player first, before the cards, was my second revelation.
I began to read extensively in the '80s. I found two experts who were exceptional: Mike Caro and David Sklansky. I bought Mike's course with 20 poker exercises, which taught much of what I knew already from my self ed, but it helped to refresh memory, bring unconscious knowledge into the conscious, and reinforce confidence because another successful player thought like I did.