Okay-with a couple of new books in hand and good night's sleep behind you, strike out on your own a little. Set yourself a goal, and try to achieve it: something tough, say, an assembly language utility that locates all files anywhere on a hard disk drive with a given ambiguous file name. That's ambitious for a newcomer and will take some research and study and (perhaps) a few false starts. But you can do it, and once you do it you'll be a real journeyman assembly language programmer.
Becoming a master takes work, and time. Michael Abrash's massive Graphics Programming Black Book (recently out of print but still in some stores) is a compilation of the secret knowledge of a programming master. It's not easy reading, but it will give you a good idea where your mind has to be to consider yourself an expert assembly language programmer.
Keep programming. Michael can show you things that would have taken you years to discover on your own, but they won't stick in your mind unless you use them. Set yourself a real challenge, something that has to be both correct and fast: Rotate graphics objects in 3-D, transfer data through a serial port at 19,200 bits per second, things like that.
You can do it.
Coming to believe the truth in that statement is the essence of stepping away from Square One-and the rest of the road, like all roads, is taken one step at a time.