Keeping yourself motivated

Being self-employed means you have no boss - no one that will get mad at you if you don't get to work on time, no one to assess your performance, no one to keep you to deadlines, and no one to try and impress.

I have a feeling that successful self-employed crafters must therefore be a pretty motivated and inspired bunch!

I'm still feeling the glow of the newly self-employed - it has been but two months since I was last working at my office job in London, and I think the initial feeling of this "new life" is still fresh and novel, and in that way I find it easy to sit at my workspace and saw and sand tiny pieces of wood for eight hours, even though my hands and back hurt (you know what?  I have started wearing socks on my hands so I dont get blisters... I can't find any of my cotton winter gloves!).

But I wonder about that feeling wearing off... what happens when you don't want to get out of bed in the morning because it's cold out and sleeping for 12 hours in a nice soft bed is lovely...?  The phone won't ring with confused coworkers wondering why you weren't in your chair at 9 (that probably wouldn't have happened in my office to be honest - it was very laid back, I probably would have got a caring email hoping I wasn't ill and to feel better soon).  It's all well and good to do that once in a while - but can it take over and away from your work?

I could easily spend days cuddled with my laptop and a cup of tea, or walking in the coutryside with the husband - I can easily be distracted from my crafting, even though I don't have any children or other responsabilities!  But at the moment, because I love what I do, I *want* to sit there and make tiny teapots out of polymer clay all day.  But I'm worried that feeling wont always be there when I need it, and I don't want what I love to become a chore!

But when I think about it, it's not worth worrying about - I'm doing what I'm doing because I love it and the situation is allowing me to live by my crafting (thanks to everyone who likes my bookshelf necklaces!!).  If I stop liking the lifestyle, or people stop liking my items, I can change my plans.  But I hope it stays like this...

So crafters (and non-crafters alike) - what do YOU do to stay motivated?