[tomashubelbauer]

I don't know. I definitely did grind programming a lot as a teenager and for a few years as a young adult. But the grinding was effortless to me. It was as if this type of activity was replenishing my energy reserves instead of making me tired. I rarely needed to take breaks and indeed frequently forgot to eat or sleep when deep in my sessions. So it wasn't a struggle at all, but it was still a grind I would say. Or maybe I am misunderstanding the word and it would be better to say it was a lot of time spent, at the very least.

I don't think anyone can do this, I think you need to have that connection with programming where it is harder resist it than it is to do the work. But it doesn't mean people like the author of the article have a secret sauce and them recounting their experience to their peers to inspire them isn't worth much to them as a result I would expect. It's the "draw the rest of the fucking owl" type a thing I think.

BTW I don't mean to say I was a super duper genius as a teenager for whom programming was like breathing. I refused to study anything, I only enjoyed discovering things myself and I had no direction in my programming knowledge collection at all. A more disciplined person would have beaten me easily, and many have. Despite the ease with which programming came to me I didn't do that much productive stuff. I was mostly just having immense amounts of fun and joy. I do feel a bit sad sometimes about not getting a bigger edge now, but realistically, when push comes to shove, I wouldn't change it anyway.