I think learning has a lot to do with talent and persistence. Different people have different genes to learn different things. I think learning has a lot to do with someone really needing you to fix something for them. Deliver a product with some new technology, bug fix, analyse something complex, whatever. You really HAVE to deliver and your brain will get into ultra focus mode. Some people I know say that they learn best when things are broken and they need to fix it urgently because the customer might be losing money.