Developing and implementing algorithms is slow. You should think, tinker, use pen&paper and try things. You know, some people spend their whole lives to just tinker with small amount of code to come up with new stuff.

I think the reason most people don't feel competent in programming or algorithms comes from the fact that they don't know how slow it sometimes is to implement something. Maybe they have preconceived an idea that someone just sits on the computer and types the program in full speed.

I love algorithms. I'm not particularly good at it, but I just love to think about the problem and try to beat it. You just have to take the time and sit on it long enough to crack it. Soon enough, you will have small successes and you start feeling more competent and more self-conscious. You know that if something's difficult for you, it's difficult for everyone else, and that motivates you to try harder.