'''Programming''' can be a very frustrating thing to do at any level.

There are a few things that have kept me going:
   * Be excited when little things work
   * Realize that from little things big things are built
   * Everybody is still learning (even Knuth)
   * Focus on being the best programmer you can be, rather than as good as someone else
   * Realize that holy/language wars just bring upset and the best thing to do is to fix the problem than complain
   * Don't be intimidated by 500+ page books (almost everybody finds them frustrating)
   * Remember your past difficulties when helping new programmers 

Please extend this list.

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[MSW]: In fact I '''love''' 500+ pages technical books :)
   * Enjoy bugs. Remember, they are there to be fixed by you - be excited when you fix that thing.
   * Enjoy interaction with your users: They will show you ways to use your program you've never thought about before.
   * Expect credits for minimal, ridiculous changes you do, but don't for abstract flexible frameworks: You get cheered on for what they see.
   * The smile on the faces of your users when you implement their wishes quickly
   * Humor. You'll often laugh hard when you read code you wrote years ago - especially if you are now more fluent in that programming language
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''[DKF]'' - It's books that are over a thousand pages that are intimidating.  Especially when used on cow-orkers...  ;^)

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   * Sometimes failure isn't really failure.  When you '''learn''' from a project it can in a way be considered a success.

   * Keep reaching for the sky.  If you only do coding that is easy you won't make the gains that you may seek.

[[Economic absurdities ...]]

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The most dangerous moment is when you have a vision and say to yourself, "Hey, I could code that!"  The next thing you know, no one has seen you for a week and you've perpetrated yet another Tcl object system.  -- [WHD}