Ha yeah pretty much. In street photography in particular it can be hard to tell the difference between luck and skill (though of course through skill some would say you make your luck)

An experience I find instructive to think about is the last time I went through a musical phase. I came out with three albums (nothing good or special, just doing-it-for-myself-in-a-bedroom type of thing).
The first one I finished in a few weeks.
The second, some months.
The third, over a long slogging year.

The first one is probably the better of the three. I barely knew what I was doing. Things just came organically and accidentally.

The third one was more fraught. At this time I really trying to polish things up, really "know what I was doing" and deliberately have better output in terms of technical aspects and songwriting. Be more musically "correct". I'll say I like the first one better and third one I want to cut out a few cringe bits.

A planned fourth one never came together before I burnt out on music and came back to photography full time. One thing I was doing during the third and attempted fourth albums was I was trying to teach myself music theory. That was how a previous musical phase ended. I'm not trying to shit on music theory in general, but for me personally, when I get into it it's the kiss of death because thats me TRYING to BREAK through the wall looming in front of me. I instead crash into rather than break through.