When you love it, you pass on the other stuff to do it. You buy the books and read them purely out of your own interest. You take on projects you don't have time for because they're too damn cool to pass up. Most importantly, you talk to your friends about it all the time, because it's what's on your mind and it's what you want their opinions on.
And guess what, that's not just a "Programming" thing.
Oh, good Lord, no. If I had a nickel for every hard-slogging, monomaniacal, talentless writer, poet, painter, actor, singer, musician -- and yes, programmer* -- I'd met in this life, I'd probably have more than enough money for a down payment on a house I couldn't possibly afford to live in. Love isn't enough. Love and study together aren't enough. Love, study and application aren't enough. Love, study, aplication and diligent practice aren't enough either -- one may be able to elevate himself above equally apt colleagues, but actual aptitude counts for a lot. As does the ability and willingness to realise that most people (and therefore, probably, himself) are merely adequate to the task.
*Okay, there's a difference between self-deluded artistes and self-deluded programmers. Artistes can always claim to be before their time, misunderstood, and operating on a whole different spiritual plane. Programmers need, at a minimum, to create something that works in order to claim any success or ability at all. A real genioid can produce code good enough to receive "Works on My Machine" certification, and that can be proven to scale to five or more "simultaneous" users (depending on how many automated virtual machines he can get to hit the server from his laptop, his workstation, and that old Pentium II in the basement).
When you love it, you pass on the other stuff to do it. You buy the books and read them purely out of your own interest. You take on projects you don't have time for because they're too damn cool to pass up. Most importantly, you talk to your friends about it all the time, because it's what's on your mind and it's what you want their opinions on.
And guess what, that's not just a "Programming" thing.