Years ago, I used to really suck at the piano. I didn't know how to practice and would go to lesson, week after week, not having accomplished anything. My teacher finally had to let me go because she couldn't do anything for me. My next teacher also kicked me out of his studio. And my next teacher, he was too nice to kick me out, so I withdrew from lessons on my own.
It was then that I stumbled by chance this video on YT:
I had heard his recorded version two years earlier but didn't think much of it; it was just the same etude but with just more notes. But seeing him play it, it was then that I was mesmerized that he was only playing it with his left hand alone. He made it look easy. It was then that I set out to learn the same Godowsky etude, not to actually play it, but to see if I could accomplish anything. It took several months, but I finally learned it.
My technique and form, now, when I am at the piano looks incredibly similar to Hamelin's. I wasn't trying to imitate him, but trying to make playing easy. I accomplished that. I can make difficult piano pieces look really easy (because they are.)
It's strange how different I am as a pianist compared to the past. I thought I wasn't talented, that I had to have started playing when I was four to be any good (I started when I was 20). I was frustrated by everything. But then seeing that video, seeing that playing is actually easy (the staring part) made the biggest difference from the years of instruction I received.
The talent myth: How to maximise your creative potential