for me it was impossible

Yes, you can reach 1900+ within 1 year no matter what is your starting point(look at my graph if you don't believe it)

But, since you're gray, you need many hours of serious work each day to actually do it

It is literally impossible to answer your question because we are internet strangers. I know nothing of you, including your mathematical background, general aptitude for solving problems etc. Even if you were a close friend, I'd have to think very hard before answering.

(For the record, I think it's possible. I did it. Well, maybe. Depends on where you start counting from)

Anyway, I'd like to use this comment to say something. I think your attitude is fundamentally wrong. It appears that you are trying to motivate yourself by setting a specific goal. I have never done that, nor do I see why you would do that.

(Full comic btw. It makes another point besides the one I'm making)

Sure, I like to lightheartedly make up goals like "oooh, I bet I could become Grandmaster by the new year!". But I don't take them seriously, I don't act on them and what happens is completely independent of them. I do competitive programming for one reason and one reason only. It is fun. I really, really like algorithms. The excitement of figuring out a hard problem is hard to match.

And it works. I have never had to deal with motivation problems with regard to competitive programming. But note that doing this for fun doesn't mean I don't work hard or that I never have to disclipine myself. Somehow it is possible to be disciplined while doing things for fun.

But with trying to become great by trying to become great... I have seen this in people too many times. At first they set a goal. Eventually they set a goal that they can't beat. Then comes the disappointment. The motivation drops. In worse cases, people feel worthless and depressed. This has happened to me, too. I'm usually all fun-driven, but with bigger contests, my competitive spirit rises up. I set expectations. I fail them. Maybe I meet them, but then I discover a way I could've gotten points that seems realistic. I am almost never satisfied after a big contest.

I don't mean to discourage you, in fact I mean the opposite. But just set your priorities straight. Don't set arbitrary goals, instead just work your hardest.

And think very hard before taking a gap year just to do competitive programming.

LoOoOoOoLOooOoLoooL. LMAO. ROFL. Another gray/div 2 coder question of the form "Is it possible to reach red in one year?"

You know what? People who ask these sort of questions mostly don't reach their desired goals in one year (or maybe never).

Seriously, what's up with these sort of questions? Are you trying to put your CF rank on your CV or something? If you are, forget it. No one cares.

Different people got different level of talent in different fields. You can ask the question "Is it possible to win the turing prize in my lifetime?". People like Knuth have done it. So the answer for such people is definitely a yes. But many others who don't have Knuth-like calibre probably can't in 100 lifetimes.

See the flaw in your logic now? The first step towards your goal is to stop asking such questions and start working hard.

LMAO. XDXDXDXDXDXD.

Yes, I reached red in just a bit more than a year. That being said, reaching it once is different from maintaining it.

https://cfviz.netlify.com/ from checking your profile here I can already see that you haven't tried solving harder problems. Quality > quantity if you need to learn new things (maybe it's the other way around if you want to practice what you already know, but quality is probably better even then). For example, you solved more A's than I did and for each "step" of difficulty, you've solved less and less. Before you say "but you're div1", I participated in most contests not thinking about div1/div2, sometimes div2 only rounds have some great ideas that anyone can learn something from it.

Spending one week in a "hard" problem may (usually) be more worthwhile than solving 100 A/B problems in one week. "Hard" because it's all about pushing yourself past your comfort zone.