Now that I've practised anatomy - which was hard and sometimes boring for me - I've come to think that practising drawing really rewards itself. First of all; you learn to draw quicker and the pictures don't take so long time to make -> unless you want to focus on details and make everything perfect. When you're quicker you probably have the energy to focus on them. I haven't reached that stage just yet..
Secondly, you can always surprise someone with your new talents. I rarely draw anything I would show to my parents but people see the change on the internet too. By the way: I can't highlight enough how important critic is to me. Some