My mother made me a scientist without ever intending to. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school, "So? Did you learn anything today?"
But not my mother. "Izzy," she would say, "did you ask a good question today?"
–Isidor Isaac Rabi
Cultivate a practice of learning every day. One great habit to start is to view encounters with difficult people as the best opportunity you may have each day. "What can this person teach me?" is always a good question, and the lesson isn't always a negative example.