In addition to the excellent tips above, I also find chromatic's journal of his Refactoring Everything project a pleasure to read. The main points I take home from it are 1) security and 2) fun. Having a source control system and a good set of tests makes coding much more relaxed, because you can always revert your changes (because of svn), and you'll know when you break something (and where) because your tests will tell you. That means you can stop worrying, and focus on writing good, workable code that you can be proud of as well. I find it exciting to see a master at work, so to speak :)