I've felt the same for many years, but with this course I've seen I've improved in little more than a month more than I had done in like 5 years since I started learning how to draw. And I think that what has helped me improve is that this course is giving you the specific information that you can turn into your specific goals, that is, improving line quality, improving shape design, improving proportions etc. Of course all of them are important, but you can set your goals to improve in one specific area for a while, and then moving on to the other and so on. Another thing that has helped me a lot is doing the master studies, and drawing along with Stan in his demos, and taking notes on his decision-making process. Similar to Pedro who commented above, doing boxes and cylinders Peter Han style just made me hate drawing, but with the master studies and the demos, I've improved tons and my motivation has increased as well. Probably because I feel i am actually drawing something, not just doing abstract stuff. I think part of your problem and your question is that when you ask the questions, they lack a complement: learning to draw "what"? Improving "what"? Without that complement, you'll be lost. So your goals can be specific aspects that the course is giving us: line, shapes, proportions etc. Your goals can be to improve your line weight through master studies and your own practice. Do that a month or some weeks, then shapes and so on. Draw everyday, but draw with a specific learning purpose. If your proportions or shading are wrong, but your goal is improving line quality, proportions and shading don't matter, just do your best in your line quality. You don't even have to shade at all. You can study the other aspects as learning goals later, and in a similar way.

Howdy! Sorry to hear you feel like you're floundering. It's a feeling that all artists experience. The important thing is to keep going! Having studied both at Watts and here on Proko I can speak a little to what Jeff probably meant by setting goals. Jeff speaks pretty regularly about systematically eliminating your weaknesses. This means identifying what isn't working in your regular practice/finished works and specifically targeting those issues with deliberate, mindful practice. For example, let's say you've been following along with these lessons and you've been constructing simple objects around your house. You notice after completing your practice that your proportions are all over the place. In your next study session you'd prioritize (over other skills) ensuring your proportions are as accurate as possible. Other areas of the drawing (shading, line weight, etc) may suffer because you're really focusing on your proportions. Rinse and repeat for all these different areas of study (line weight, edges, values). This also applies to specific forms/objects. For example, hands can be really difficult. If you're drawing a lot of figures and keep struggling with hands that probably means you don't understand the form of the hand (or you've forgotten the information, which will happen if you don't regularly revisit complex topics). You'd set a goal to sit down and study hand anatomy or drawings of hands from other artists. The idea is to be mindful, be honest with yourself about what is and isn't working, and purposefully execute and study. It's also important to draw for yourself and not make everything an exercise. Invention and creativity are separate skill sets from the technical science of drawing/painting. Sorry for the novel! I feel you with the frustration. Just know that literally everyone here in this forum, and every teacher you'll study with has experienced these same struggles. The importance lies in accepting where your skills are and moving forward. Cheers!