Growing in Skill

[ChillinVillain]

Hello poker community. I have been playing poker seriously for about a year and admit I have a long way to go to get better. I was hoping to get advice on how do you tell whether or not you are getting better or if the plays one does are correct and leading you in the right direction.

Many will say, "well can't you tell by how often you win." This may seem to be the obvious answer but for a noob like myself, I feel its hard because I could win a large streak of hands and wonder, "was it because of good play or because of luck?" I could also lose a large number of hands due to bad beats. Was that my fault or just bad luck? Also, since many of the hands I win, other players fold, its hard for me to tell if it was because of something I did or not.

Poker Veterans, do you set yourself a goal each month and try to meet those numbers in terms of earnings? What is the best way to get feed back on your plays. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you 2+2 community.