IWSG Oct 2024: How can you tell if your writing have improved?

I'm going to skip this month's question and talk about improvement. To make my writing better, I read a ton of articles, blog posts, how-to books and watch a lot of youtube tutorial/info videos and continue to do so but it's hard to say whether they help or hinder because every idea or useful info can also make me question my writing and doubt my own skills and ability to judge correctly.
    Upon re-reading my old writings, I can tell I have improved because those old writings were really bad. At least in terms of grammar. But at the same time, I think my writing has gotten a bit less fanciful. Before, I seemed to write with a somewhat poetic style which may be because I had been writing poems but I don't know. I now write in a bit more direct way and I don't try as hard to make every sentence sound good but I still look up tons of words just to see if I am using them correctly. I like to think this change is an improvement but I'm not 100% sure.
    I guess the way to see if you have improved is to ask people to read your stuff and give their opinion but then you have to decide if you trust their opinion more or yours. If you ask an editor about your writing, you might get a more accurate answer but again, this depends on if you trust them or yourself more. In the end, it's your writing so you are the only one who can judge.

What about you? How can you tell if your writing have improved?

[More about the group over at the Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog here]