Yeah, the trick in my opinion is to find a good enough book or guide on new features with which you can skim and familiarize yourself. If you don't understand when you might apply something, go figure that part out. Then work on a project and when it seems like you might need that concept, go read about it in more detail. In terms of real world work, having a very broad, surface level knowledge of many concepts and when you might apply them often comes in more useful than a very in depth knowledge of a few specific concepts.
