I've been doing this for almost 3 years. Here's the best advice I can give to people starting out that truly want to learn.

You can, and should strive to, be better.
This is my Golden Rule of everything I do in life that matters to me -- from production, to relationships, to medical school, to anything I care about. Becoming content with what you're doing or your skill level leads to stagnation. There's no finish line in this, only stepping stone goals you set along the way if you choose so. Want to get better? Admit you can improve and figure out how to.

Connect with people
Forums and reddit are great but I improved the most when I joined a group chat of people who, like me, wanted to improve. These are people I've talked to every day for the last 2 years and are pretty good friends. Don't be afraid to reach out to people on soundcloud/twitter/Facebook. Like a sound from a track? Message the artist. Is deadmau5 going to tell you how he did something? Most likely not, but who knows? He could. I reached out to a very well known artist (he's on this forum) several months ago and said I was going to be in the same city as he was and wanted to meet up and talk production. He agreed to meet up for a half hour or so. We ended up sitting in a Starbucks for nearly 4 hours talking about music/production/the industry. That's an experience you want to have and the only way you're going to get it is by connecting with people. Guess what he said was the most valuable experience he's had? Reaching out to an artist he looked up to.

Listen
The obvious, not-so-obvious, broad-spectrum piece of advice. Listen to fans. Listen to haters. Listen to what your friends and family have to say about your music. Listen to yourself. Try sitting down with one other person and play one of your songs for them. If you're not cringing, you're not being self-critical enough. Listen to music you love. Why do you love it? Figure that out. Listen to music you hate. Why do you hate it? Listen to people who are better than you. What makes them better? Listen to people who are worse than you. There's stuff you can learn from everyone, regardless of skill -- even if it's how not to do something. Listen to your sounds. Listen to your sample selections. Listen to your progressions. Listen to your arrangement. Listen to your melodies. Listen to everything. Fucking Listen.