[Mageek]

Having a partner for your side project helps a lot, in the same way having a gym buddy helps with working out. I generally need my projects to be rewarding unto themselves, that is, the act of working on them should be fulfilling. If the end goal is the only motivation, it is really easy to lose interest during the long slog and do something else.

The other big thing is separating work time from the rest of my life. I have a set routine. I start and end at basically the same times every day.

Finally, I keep track of todo items for my project. When I am not feeling motivated, it is a lot easier to say I’ll do this one small todo task here or that one task there, which makes things manageable.