A lot of people don't understand that learning, like any other skill takes some time to master and in fact, a good teacher will teach their students how to learn and will work with students to get them to take the initiative until they can carry the brunt of the "work" of learning.
One of my instructors told me yesterday over a beer that mastery is the realization that one can never become a master.
I've heard that too. I'm no master, but I'm pretty good at a few things and at the very least I can tell when I'm further along than some of the others I meet who are also involved. For me this really means that there is no ultimate level of mastery, though there may be a range that an observer might consider to be mastery.
Exactly. And to have a the mentality of a master is to realize that you'll never be a master since there are an infinite number of things to master.