Am I improving?

It might be that change of water or the heady excitement of receiving a monthly salary for the first time since I started at Uni over 8 years ago but I seem to be picking up simple combinations lately. Strange that I have recently started the circles (albeit not quite so intensely as de la Maza) and since then I haven't dropped a piece to a one move combo in slow or fast games. Maybe this is what he meant in the book?
Any thoughts?