Judge and Improve. Study and Grow. Participate.

Anyone who wants to be great at anything must work for it. I read a study that stated it took on average a minimum of 10 years for someone to become an expert at something. now if you're sitting back and not worried about learning your notes or scales then it probably going to take more than 10 years for you if it ever happens.

One of the most important things about any creative endeavor isnot the final product but the journey. If you are a creative person there will be many products that serve as markers of your development. Picasso used to do regular 'academic' style art work before moving into his "Blue period" to "Africanism Period" to "Cubism" for which he made his greatest work.

With regards to audio production careers it works the same. Dre started doing electronic dance beats to sampling James Brown like every other DJ (at the time) to where he is today with his flawless production. Dre never attended any audio production classes either.

Getting and giving feedback is important for growth. It can help you to see areas you should improve. If you make awesome drum patterns with crappy drum sounds you need to know.

The easiest way of getting feedback is to find a forum where you can submit your tracks and/or enter beat battles. If you do this, make sure you participate in GIVING feedback and VOTING in beat battles.

You'll be amazed at how much you start to learn from other peoples work as you listen to it with a judgemental ear. It's beyond "That beat is wack" or "That beat is fire". When you start noticing how a snare is too loud or a sample isnt looped right or the transition from verse to chorus is rough, you are starting to get into the expert zone. Because most people can't express these things in those terms. It's good or bad but they don't know why. When you start to know why, you start to apply that knowledge to your own compositions.

Don't forget there are a ton of resources out there to help you learn. Take advantage of them. You can usually build a good deal of sites after finding one or two good 'producer' oriented forums. Check the links pages here for some starting places.