Have you read the War of Art? Author Steven Pressfield writes:

“We're facing dragons too. Fire-breathing griffins of the soul, whom we must outfight and outwit to reach the treasure of our self-in-potential and to release the maiden who is God's plan and destiny for ourselves and the answer to why we were put on this planet.”

In other words, and like you said, success is an ongoing process. It demands we turn up and practice our craft each day even if the results are good, bad or unlike we imagined.