Identity precedes habit.

I accepted that mastering algorithms was something I needed to do if I wanted to break into my desired income bracket.

So I leaned into the premise that I was a Leetcode grinder. And I spent 6 months during COVID doing only that.

I went from never having solved a medium on my own to being able to solve almost any medium in < 5 minutes (sometimes < 2 minutes).

I landed a job in HFT fairly quickly once I started interviewing.