My objective is to know PERL very well.

Son: How do I get to Carnegie Hall?
Father: Practice. Lots of practice.

The point of that old saw is that to be good at anything requires practice. It doesn't matter if it is Tae Kwon Do, baseball, riding a bike, carpentry, brewing beer or writing code. You start off at a particular skill and get better with practice. How much progress over a delta of time depends on your inborn aptitude for that skill. I'll never be a Major League baseball player because I don't have the aptitude (nor interest) in achieving that level of skill.

One of my passionate pursuits in in the realm of culinary arts. I am a crappy baker (aptitude and interest strike again) but can cook seven course dinners that cause people that have experienced them to question why I never opened a restaurant. Yet I remember 40 years ago some of the stuff I cooked being barely edible.

So.. keep coding... keep practicing. It also might hep to track down someone to mentor you and critique your code.