I know the feeling and one thing that really helped me is doing things related to a higher goal/purpose. I'm not talking about some spiritual stuff or convincin

I know the feeling and one thing that really helped me is doing things related to a higher goal/purpose. I'm not talking about some spiritual stuff or convincing yourself with bullshit. Just something to aspire to, something you respect and admire or maybe the man you'd like to become. This helps aligning your goals... (but school will always destroy that with meaningless assignments... my approach to school is different) Also, reducing the level of short-term pleasures for long-term ones really helps. I don't personally enjoy a great range of activities. It's not depression or numbness but mostly carelessness caused by the lack of general meaning. So, when it comes to coding, it's mostly about working on something that frustrates me (or feel passionate about, the feeling is quite similar in my case) so I can reach a relaxed state again. Happy, enjoyable are not exactly the words I'd use to describe my work. I feel stressed and anxious when I have a lot of undone things I actually care about, doing them is relaxing and when I'm done, using them or getting them out of my mind is satisfactory ;-)