"How do I get the work done?" By getting the work done. There is no better substitute for getting the work done than getting the work done. Finding the best chair, the best keyboard, the best text editor, the best caffeine vector, the best excuse this week for why you haven't gotten the work done, they all feel like getting the work done. But they aren't. You just have to get the work done.

Or, in the words of my father, standing over me as I procrastinated my homework, "Put the pencil, on the paper. Move your hand. Move your hand."

I can tell you from my personal experience, i was doubling about programing my early life 14-17 i remember trying to jump intro "Wc3 map making" but i felt little control so i wanted more of it so i "asked around" found that there is "Jass" if i still remember correctly so i started with that i remember seeing allot of writhing that made no sense.

I tried learning "Jass" but it was not possible, doing school + homeWork since its a thing where i am from, big houses and allot of dust...

A few years ago i decided what i wanted to do with my self, after i finished school, i started learning how to program, moved out, lowered my standards to everything to get maximum amount of time available.

Living low gave me allot of time and i can confess to my skill spiking immensely, but at a cost. Ive started feeling weak etc, my diet was poor.

So to conclude it all: assuming you start with 0$, got a low paying job like me:
- What is the best food diet you can achieve to stay healthy and it to be prepared quick to spend least amount of time eating/cocking.

- Exercise, or at least stretch when you wake up, it will provide allot of more pleasurable feeling while sitting on the chair staring at a monitor half a day.

- Solving the problems!!! This is where the skill lies, getting unexpected problems, and being able to solve then quickly and efficiently.

- Make a focus on particular subject, and experiment until feeling like you will remember it.

- Learn how to learn. (You may be thinking "What", but it is vital), each "human" is unique, so are you. Find tutorials/learning guide that suits your stile.

- Do not skip nor master, don't remember what you dont need. Remembering that you can do things but not knowning exactly how to make it work, in case a need for it comes you can just skim it to remind.

If you want to get good, adapt, it has to become a part of the lifestyle, going to shop "15 min walk" think about the code, plan...

I usually make up a character while on my way to shop to get goods, or a good scene to add to the game, and i do that all the time.

Know your limits tho, i had problems with focus on job, i couldnt remember 3 things boss told me in a order.

If you have great idea, write it down, chances it you will forget.

Most of all its your will, and your determination that will show your end result.

Lots of good things said here, my 2 cents (or pence as i'm British :p )

"nothing worth doing in this life, that is worth doing, is easy"

Now the fact i am paraphrasing scrubs makes that no less a valid statement :). Hard work and study is its own reward, to be good at anything you need to be constantly learning and accepting of the fact that you are not a master at it, I think in programming that's even more true, things still change so fast in this industry.

A warning, you will find things and/or people that will try and tell you how to become a good programmer fast/24 hours/2 weeks etc etc. These people/books are lying, they may teach you a method or style of programming that will make you feel like they aren't but trust me they are. Its very easy to be a bad programmer, particularly with tools that make it easy and computers that are so fast that they let you off. (saying that I got kickstarted by a "learn C++ programming in 24 hours book")

I find challenging myself and my own beliefs to be the best way to learn (or preferably find a group/team who will challenge you).

Currently I am reading up on Data Oriented Design which really challenges a lot of my perceptions of core programming (which is based on OOP) and debating it in work to. Forcing myself to think differently I can either re-affirm why I think what I think, or think something else :p. Programming is also a big discipline with many tools and there is no one size fits all tool/paradigm/design/language, so always be ready to learn a new approach for the applicable job.

Personally I also learnt a lot when I started trying to program without an IDE on Linux, going C++ in geany/gedit/vim and gcc and gdb is a arguably a little archaic, but personally it helped me understand areas of programming that I had got away with not knowing, this year I have also spent a lot of time trying to get "closer to the metal" to understand how costly this call is on this hardware. I have felt learning more about how the CPU / GPU actually handles my commands and how many cycles it will all take has made me a better programmer but some would argue that going this granular is a little over the top with modern languages etc, to each their own flame war, like I said their is no one size fits all approach :)