There is way to get where you are going and it all depends on where you currently are. Some of it depends on where you have been, but mostly on your current level.
What is important to know is that you will never 'get there' unless you have someone worthy to show you. You can practice, and practice, watch dvd matches, practice some more, and you will mostly just be chasing your tail unless someone analyzes you and corrects your flaws, and EVERYONE HAS FLAWS.
More so that the physical delivery is the mental approach of how to look at the shot, how to 'feel the shot', how to deliver the stroke properly, and most importantly, what to do after the shot. It is the same, harmonious repetitive orchestration of choreography time after time. If you think you have only yourself, you will most likely be practicing more bad habits than good habits. Most of us are TOO PRIDEFUL to ask for help thinking that 'ONLY IF I CAN HIT THAT GEAR' like I did that one time.
Lay your pride down and seek the proper level of instruction for your appropriate skill level. It's really important to find the right help. Not just anyone can ask anyone, and 9 times out of 10, no one will help you. Things will just happen as God sees fit. If you deserve help and you have done the right things, paid your dues, and lost enough matches, you will come to a point of realization. Enlightenment will unfold before your very feet as to where to place the next step towards the right direction.
I myself thought that lessons were for suckers and they pretty much are, cause in pool, your instructor is probably gonna sit there on the side and be like that guy in 'Chubs' in Happy Gilmore sitting there coaching that large chick. Pool is simple. Very simple. All in all, just look at the ball and hit it. If only you can go full circle to come back to that simplicity is the real trick. That's where at some point, you need to get some sort of knowledgeable player, preferably someone who cares to spend a series of weeks and possibly months with you for a short period of time. It musn't be this person and that person either. Learn from one dependable person who is going to lift you above the clouds with every compliment he makes at key stages of improvement.
For me, it was Buddy Hall. He is the one who made me feel like I was finally 'doing it right.' I was made fun of and ridiculed because of my intention to copy Bustamante. I can only imagine how foolish I looked. I know of a few others who try that as well, and when I watch them they look quite ridiculous. Only Bustamante can really pull that shit off, and even he looks somewhat over flamboyant. You don't really need to do all that B.S. with the wavy back arm and 5' long bridge. You need you hand flat on the table with a concentrated effort to deliver with accuracy. That's realism. That's pool. Of course I compensated him with a cue, but I don't know if I could've ever 'gotten there' unless he had broken it down for me. It took someone of his magnitude, experience and star power for me to finally settle down and 'listen'. Many, many others had told me, or tried to tell me much of the same things, but only in an abbreviated version and I would never listen cause I was better than they were. After all, who were they to tell me anything?
My advice is this. Pay your dues. There is no other way to 'get there' than the hard way. There is no 'easy'. There is no 'secret' other than to say that the secret is acquired the 'hard way'. When the time is right, you will know it. Latch on to someone who makes you feel inspired and someone who knows better. If you find that the person teaching you truly cares, and it is your goal to be a highly skilled player, than it is worth $500, $700, or maybe even a little more, but not that much more. Anything more than that, especially a three-day or less pool school is going to hurt you more than help you especially if you're not ready.
"When the pupil is ready, the master will appear."
