Maintaining self-confidence
Everyone goes through stages in their job where nothing seems to work - you can't get your head around a project, your code won't work, you sit staring at a screen, trying to understand, and all that happens is your self-confidence takes a kicking.  You go home at the end of the day with your lack of progress hanging over you.

This can be especially bad for those for whom programming is a defining feature - "I'm a programmer, but now I feel like I can't program..."

These phases inevitably pass, you have a breakthrough, your coworkers help out, but at the time they can be quite devastating.

What strategies do people have to deal with this kind of thing?
Maintaining self-confidence
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Everyone goes through stages in their job where nothing seems to work - you can't get your head around a project, your code won't work, you sit staring at a screen, trying to understand, and all that happens is your self-confidence takes a kicking.  You go home at the end of the day with your lack of progress hanging over you.

This can be especially bad for those for whom programming is a defining feature - "I'm a programmer, but now I feel like I can't program..."

These phases inevitably pass, you have a breakthrough, your coworkers help out, but at the time they can be quite devastating.

What strategies do people have to deal with this kind of thing?