Moving past the 800-900 plateau: How to bridge the gap to 1000+?

Hi Codeforces! I’m a "newbie" who has been consistent with CP for a few months now. I’ve solved nearly 200 problems and participated in 9 contests. My primary resource has been the ACDLadder which updates the problems every once in a while and has good exhaustive pool of problems of every rating (100 problems per rating), and I try to maintain a daily streak despite my university commitments. But, that's not the objective for me just for sake of doing it, I like CP and it's something maybe I'll always wanna do, until I can. But, I genuinely wanna get better at it, not just maintain streak and make my heatmap greener.

The Problem: Despite the consistency, I’m struggling to solve 1000-rated problems on the "first glance." I often find myself: Solving 800 rated problems just to maintain a streak when I'm busy. Falling into the trap of reading the editorial or asking an LLM for the approach too quickly.

Struggling to build the "logic" for 1000-rated problems without a hint.

My Goal: I genuinely love CP and want to improve. My goal is to reach Specialist (Cyan) by next 6-8 months of 2026. I know it’s a marathon, not a sprint, but I feel like my current "solve-style" isn't yielding the right mental growth.

Current Stats: Problems Solved: ~200 Resources: ACDLadder

I’ve attached my heatmap and rating-wise distribution below. I would appreciate any advice on: How long should I struggle with a 1000-rated problem before checking the editorial? How do I practice "mathematical/greedy" thinking rather than just "implementation"? For those who were stuck at Newbie, what was the "click" moment for you to reach Pupil/Specialist?

Thanks in advance for the help!