[em-bee]

for me it was (and still is, especially when i learn something new) successfully solving problems. for a novice that means breaking tasks down so that they can be solved in small steps, each step giving the feeling of success and motivating you to go on. it is frustrating to spend a week hunting a problem without making any progress. for a novice that can be crushing their confidence, especially if they get the impression that it their fault that it takes so long.

books or classes didn't do anything for me until i was able to actually apply the new things learned. (for me learning is problem oriented, i take a problem and learn how to solve it)

also as a novice i found building a project from scratch daunting, because there is so much stuff to do before you can get to have some actual functionality. i prefer either to start with something very small but with some usable functionality that doesn't take long to build, and then add features until it is completed, or take something already working, and build upon that.

when i learned lisp i took the example project that was in the book towards the end and built it into the tool i wanted.

though i think test driven development can help here too. as each passing test is a success. so write a test, pass it, continue, until you have something working.