Without a doubt, teaching what you learned helps you learn fast, better understand the concepts & helps you retain the knowledge.

Having said that, here are 2 other ways that helped to accelerate my skill levels FAST (and it could work for you too):

#1 | Join Competitions

Competitions offer the perfect drive to do your best!

• Video Making: During my college days, my team & I joined film competitions. We pushed ourselves to create something unconventional. The short films we produced 10X-ed my video skills in a short span of time.
• Graphic Design: Over a decade ago, I joined design competitions in 99designs & Designcrowd. My skill level went from beginner to PRO within a few months. Winning was my core metric of how much I have improved. The $$ prizes were also a nice bonus!

#2 | Use your new skills to help others

Making projects that are useful to others is way more exciting & motivating than just producing projects out of online tutorials (not that they don’t help).

• Web Design/Development: When I was on the quest to improve my website-making skills, I volunteered to make websites for non-profit groups. (If you have marketing skills to offer, check out pimpmycause.org)
• 3D Art: I created 3D models/animations for my sales colleagues, for them to integrate into their proposal presentations. The 3D artwork helped them close more deals & the experience helped me get better at making 3D art. Win-win!