You should do the same. Just read about what's out there, and you'll find something that you really think is awesome. Then you'll be motivated to do some coding!
There's tangible benefits to this too - for me, I reached out to a professor to help out with his research in an area that I found particularly interesting (computer graphics). Just ask around!
All of the great programmers I know got that way by repeatedly thinking up a cool idea they had, researching how to do it, and winging the rest. All you need is Google these days.
Though, of course, schooling can accelerate the learning by teaching you the mistakes of your elders so you can conveniently bypass them.