I would not say I'm even close to enlightenment yet, but I think I can give you some suggestions.

Plain and simple. Find work that is challenging (in Perl, of course) and your first impression is that you can't do it. You know, that project you've just got and it looks daunting so you'd rather take on something else? Just go ahead and take it on. You'll learn a lot on the way.

I'm not saying this might work for you. Its just how I learned most of my current Perl skill set.