I don't like the "addicted" metaphor. I think he's really saying that he wants to get into flow. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi#Flow http

I don't like the "addicted" metaphor. I think he's really saying that he wants to get into flow. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi#Flow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi#Flow Flow happens when you have high skill and are attempting things at the limit of your ability. The little mental rewards for achievement come quicker and propel you to the next step. So the unfortunate truth is that he's going to have to spend a lot of time practicing and honing his craft, before he can truly get into flow. Perhaps it's better to try mastering simpler tools and simpler tasks and iterate from there. There are programming methodologies that help you get into flow. Extreme programming is a silly name, but pairing with someone else really does help with focus. Also, building a skeleton system with lots of dummy classes or functions and "filling in the blanks" can feel extremely rewarding. A test-first practice can also help, where you set up lots of tests that all fail and make them pass, one by one.