Ask HN: I lost my will to program. How can I get it back?

I don't know if my story is same as yours but I have gone through a similar phase in my life. I started programming in 2001 as a student, continued doing it for 2 years in my job at one of the largest IT company in India. Programming was fun. Back then I was able to code all day without getting bored. There was no time and motivation to do things like watching movies, dating, etc. which other people of my age found a fun thing to do. As a student I found it great to do technical things my peers(or even teachers) weren't able to do and I liked when they called me a "hacker". As an employee I found it very satisfying to find solutions to problems that no one else in my team was able to do. Then after 2-3 years at job, things changed. I lost my interest in coding. I was not happy anymore. I got depressed. Why?

After few months of soul searching I found the reason. My excellence at programming was due to external motivation - to be recognized and applauded by peers. When I got that I lost my motivations to do that. Given the quality of work done in big Indian IT companies it was really difficult to find people who were better than me. I was thinking about it in a wrong way. I needed to change myself, my goals and vision. I did that. I asked myself what I want from life? I learned all that I wanted was to do something meaningful with it. I don't need the recognition and applauds from others but I need to feel that I am making good use of my life to contribute something back to the world. I realized I never loved programming itself but I did it for other reasons - to get recognized by peers. I changed my reason to do it. I now do it to create value. I now do it to make things that people need. I now do it to make a small part of world better. I feel better when I know that my work is creating value for someone.

I don't love programming anymore. I don't need to but I can find it very satisfying to do things that are even more boring to do than programming if it helps me in achieving what I want - "Creating Value". It doesn't matter what others think about it. I need to feel that I made a contribution.

My suggestion - Start Contributing.

My sister is an olympic level athlete, food as a reward becomes a problem for many of her competitors. Rewards help cement a habit though, personally I use music when I require extra motivation and don't when I don't need it. Maybe consider going to a req center and soak in a hot tub as a reward or a day off.