I had the same problem. How did I solve it? First of all, I don't learn new stuff just for sake of learning new things - I am always trying to solve a problem,

I had the same problem. How did I solve it? First of all, I don't learn new stuff just for sake of learning new things - I am always trying to solve a problem, even the simplest one. Create simple requirements and keep trying to achieve your goal as soon as possible. Once your tests (even ugly ones) pass, you can start refactoring and make your code idiomatic for a given technology/language. At least it's my way of doing things.