Breakthroughs, for me, have been more about conquering fear than mastering techniques. I have to tell myself things such as:
It's just fabric and just thread. It's not life or death.
Anything can be taken out and redone.
So what? Can I live with it? (If not, I redo it till I'm satisfied with my best.)
My best is better than it was last year, but not as good as what I'll be doing next year. (Helps me be happy that I'm growing, learning, improving, rather than beating myself up that I'm not up to {fill-in-the-blank} level yet.)
Specifically, overcoming the fear of FMQ was huge. It no longer stifles my creativity. The fear of it used to keep me in my "safe zone" of SITD--until I realized I wasn't fun with that one kind of quilting.