I never learned the proper way but I know there are several ways to 
do this...


Start by placing your pinky on your pick guard. The pinky is the 
anchor so your hand won't travel while the other fingers are picking. 
Now for ease of explanation (and most books will explain this as 
well), we will assign nuumbers to your fingers so that you can tell 
which finger picks where. 

Pointer = 1
Index = 2
Ring = 3
Thumb - T


The top 3 strings are picked by the thumb and the bottom three are 
picked by a specific finger, as in High E is picked by 3, 2nd string 
by 2 and 3rd string by 1.

Now as an exercise you can practice finger rolls with this look


T-2-1-3, T-2-1-3, T-2-1-3, etc...


Make A D chord and use the thumb to alternately pick the bass note 
and then follow the patter. This pattern is just one way...there are 
hundreds more I am sure...maybe this will get you started...