My first batch looked like sad little sponges. I had to learn the hard way that pressing the water out is not a suggestion, it's a law. My kitchen counter was basically a tofu press graveyard of failed methods. Did you also go through a phase of using every heavy book in your house?
My old copy of "The Joy of Cooking" still has a permanent warp from my heavy book phase. I actually cracked a cutting board once by stacking too many cast iron pans on top of a tofu block. The real game changer for me was finding a specific brand of super firm tofu that needs almost no pressing at all. It felt like cheating after all those years of kitchen counter experiments.