When I was quite young, I started 'programming' by copying code out of magazines. I would run home from school, open up a magazine, write code until dinner, run downstairs after and write code until I had to go to bed. If I repeated that often enough, I would eventually (if I was lucky) be able to compile my code, fix the 14,000 missing pieces of punctuation and then have a (very primitive) game to play and share with my friends.

I don't recall learning much, but I was at an age where I was more concerned with getting Nario to jump over a bucket than with actually learning. I likely did learn something, maybe even just a passion for sitting in front of a computer and making it do cool things. I'm sure I also learned that if you really want something, just put in the hours and jfgid. For me though, the operative part was games. I wanted to play games and at some level, I wanted to learn how other people built amazing games for my Tandy.

The point of all that (other than 7:30am nostalgia) is that, for me at least, I had to be motivated. I had to want the end result enough to push through the grueling bullshit of it all. To this day, I believe that the only way to learn to code is to fall in love with a project to such an extent that you can't stop yourself. Whether that's a good lesson for teenagers will have to wait...my kid is only three, so I have a decade of self doubt to interfere. :)