I am exactly like you. I have always wanted to get into programming and do something useful. So, I learned lisp thinking that maybe the languages i tried before were the major barriers that prevented me from getting things accomplished. While, it wasn't. Although I really enjoyed learning lisp, I still had trouble staying motivated. I finally realized that its just not for me. I recommend reading http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html I emailed Paul Graham about my problem, and he said that one way to stay motivated is to write stuff that you and your friends need and want to use. I don't know if that will help you. It hasn't really helped me that much. There are many lisp apps that I started writing, which I actually want/need, but have not been motivated enough to finish them.