I know what you're talking about. Learning is the most fun one can have, yet still means hard work. I would like to share my experiences, and even though I can only speak for myself, maybe some people might recognize themselves. This might be a little off-topic as to the original posting, but it does discuss the subject matter of learning and motivation.

In later years, I've come to realize that one of the most devastating things when it comes to motivation is trying to force it.

When I was younger, I often had a strong feeling of responsibility towards myself that I should do things that was developing my skills. Whether or not it was reading political literature or coding Perl; it always had some strange feeling of urgency to it. I found myself increasingly in a situation where things I enjoyed doing was being pitted against each other. Some of them were not only fun, but they were also becoming something that I "should" do: not so much because I wanted to but because they were "productive". Sometimes it even went so far as to making me feel guilty when I did something that was clearly improductive, such as taking an all-nighter playing video games or hanging out with friends.

But at some point, stuff becomes homework. And I don't like homework. I'm much like a kid in that sense; I tend to favor doing things that I do just for the fun of it.

As silly as it may sound, it meant that these feelings, that superficially was steering me towards productive activities, was working the other way around. When it came to choosing between two fun things, one of which I had deemed to be "productive" and the other "improductive", I tended to go for the latter, simply because I didn't "have" to do that.

This was not very hard for me to get rid off once I actually came to realize the thought-process. It wasn't nearly as pervasive as I might be making it out to be in this post. After all, I did want to learn those things. But even so, I can't say it wasn't a problem. Sometimes more, sometimes less so, but still a problem.

Generally speaking, I've found that a way to trick myself into doing stuff is to just do it. Just sit down to hack, and if you're anything like me you'll probably end up doing nothing else for the rest of the day. And the trick for me to wanting to sit down is to realize I don't have to do it. No one can make me code, not now, not never. I'd rather starve.

This attitude has done wonders for my productivity. I've never before in my life coded as much as I do nowadays. And I have tons of fun pretty much all the time.

As banal as it may seem, life isn't to be taken too seriously.