Become poor and try finding a job in programming. Seriously, this was the biggest motivation for me to learn what I did. Got me to take it seriously as a means of survival.
^This... The survival factor played an enormous role in my drive to land my first programming job. I was 27 and had recently decided to leave the physics PhD program I was in (I was tired of being in college, burnt out dealing with my advisor, and in general uninterested in my line of research). For additional pressure include a wife, four year old, and baby on the way. I frantically applied to everything I could find and eventually landed a junior developer position. Almost three years later (and at different company) I am very happy that I made the push. My only regret is that I did not start my programming career earlier in life.