I can't do it anymore

Hello /prog/

I want to program, but I can't. I have no ideas which I feel are suited to my skill level. Everything I read about is either too easy or too complex, and everything that I want to work on is far too complex for me to work on.

I want to improve myself and work on the things I am really interested in, but I can't improve myself if I don't work on intermediate projects, and I have no idea what to work on to get my skills to that level.

It's depressing. It has got to the point where I haven't seriously written a line of code in a few months. I want to do something, but I always find excuses to not do it.

How do you guys deal with crushing laziness and ineptitude? How do you improve yourself? How do you motivate yourself to realize your programming dreams?
How do I become the Master Programmer?

>>8
Ok, seriously, get treatment.

So I should just find something I enjoy and jump into it?

Yes. Nothing works without motivation. You need to reward yourself that programming is a way to achieve those rewards. Usually a project like a game or screen scrapper keeps me motivated to keep on programming. Find your thing, and make it programming related. Reward yourself every hour. But take 1 hour cycles.

What if I find out that a project is far more difficult than I anticipated, and I can't finish what I started?

Doing a project keeps you focused to try something new you've never tried because it posed the challenge in way. It works as a stepping stone to enlightenment.

Should I stick with one-day projects and ease myself into longer projects once I've started programming every day?

Correct, but things you like. Like any addiction, slow and steady progressions, until you master yourself.

I'll keep the depression idea in mind, but I would really like to avoid any pills or "treatments" as much as possible.

No seriously do. Most treatments are not pill related, like jogging, playing music, writing a book, etc..

I beat off far too often, maybe 4+ times/day.

There's your reason for depression. You body has little energy to continue programming since you waste it all jacking. I jog and swim, make myself /fit/, then MIDI, then wiff, then cook. But between them all, programming.

Perhaps that has something to do with my motivation.

No shit Sherlock.