Ok, there was some interest in my post so I will respond:
I am sure I will achieve 2200+ FIDE eventually if I simply play FIDE events whether I will get FM or IM eventually I do not know. By playing 10-15 FIDE games a year over last several years I have made slow progress.
Generally you can get to about the level your friends or the people around you get to without any special efforts. However, there is nobody local who is substantially higher rated than me to push me to the next level for me who I can play frequently and discuss ideas; the closest challenging player for me available to push me forward is IM
@spinaltap on this site who I see infrequently b/c we have other distractions in our lives besides chess.
I have played many very strong and young players as well so I am familiar with their methods and I am very selective of the rare major tournaments I play although I often seem to fall a shade short of truly extraordinary results. My main goal is to learn and have fun and I play accordingly. I am very content to take calculated risks and try to play all sorts of positions and types of chess events and players looking to make long term gains. It really helps to have good physical fitness, concentration, and willingness to play all positions to their proper conclusion - and most importantly, to really enjoy what you do. I find that I outplay and get outplayed all the time in my games against players of all levels, and this is very encouraging for me - how far I have come and how much further I can still go in a positive sense.
I studied endgames and attacking chess quite a lot - I am very aware of openings options, but usually I am out of my book knowledge by move 10, and almost certainly out of book my move 15 in most of my games, and often much sooner. Probably the best knowledge I can think of is to create an advantage for yourself somewhere on the board and keep all the long term advantages for yourself as much as possible. Also have fresh, new, exciting ideas and goals for yourself that you really want to play or actualize step-by-step!
There is a preparation aspect to over the board chess where you can really equalize your chances against much better players in major events. Make things as easy for yourself as possible and as difficult for your opponent - be open to good suggestions and cut out negative aspects and anybody can do just ok. Chess is an information game if you have better information and deductive reasoning you can outplay anyone; many players have lots of holes in their chess, all that is required is to play better than your opponent. Learning is an (inter)active process so use those tools you have to maximum effect. Success is a product of (among other aspects) attitude, resources and circumstance.
Mentally I am obviously a bit all over the map and animated; well, that's what I think anyway - all the best in your chess. I use the lichess study feature and chessable to read a few books, and play through some annotated games and commentaries in positions but have not really done much else for my chess - and I suspect having a constructive social chess atmosphere to exchange ideas is the best thing once you have good fundamentals, recall some strong players implying as much. Having a good memory and a sharp mind is a major plus too, not necessarily for memorization of moves but to remember ideas and plans and tricks of/in similar positions at the right moments.
The largest obstacle for adults is sometimes the lack of flexibility in terms of realistic expectations; they seem to me more easily frustrated (you need the ability to let bad experiences go) and certainly rely more on their instincts or experience than children. I have read a lot of literature and studies on chess, learning and mistakes, played freestyle and correspondence chess and have discussed methods with players of all levels including top levels, everything helps a bit although my methods for myself are certainly inefficient; the most efficient course would be to constantly challenge myself against players of slightly to moderately higher level and learn from them.
Really in short, though I was a much better soccer player than chess player and applied my techniques to mastery of fundamental soccer skills to chess, working on all facets of my game, engaging in different aspects of my game using a variety of techniques and mediums; the most essential part to living is to never be bored or boring. You can see clearly that top players play enterprising chess, of course there is some pattern recognition, but I guess that's why they can succeed at chess960 too.
