Answered => “How can I motivate myself to work hard?” on Quora.

http://www.quora.com/How-can-I-motivate-myself-to-work-hard

=> My answer…

Embrace (like your life depends on it), “No pain. No gain.”

Avoid time-sucks. For example, obsessing over your email inbox is distracting and counter productive. Such things are de-motivators. Avoid them.

Set goals and set them often. But be reasonable. For example, “I want to lose 100 lbs” is a pretty high bar. Probably too high. But I want to lose 10 lbs done ten times (in the context of ultimately getting to 100) is more attainable. Unattainability is also a de-motivator. How do you eat an elephant? One bit at a time.

Motivation – for those who can be motivated – is often a function of reward. Note: Reward does not necessarily have to be financial. Be clear about why you’re doing what you’re doing. Don’t lose sight of the goal(s).

I find that HBR.org (Harvard Business Review) often has good articles on time management, personal productivity, etc. Aside from being highly motivated and working hard, working smart is also a good habit to pick up.

Speaking of such resources, and please pardon me for self-promotion but these might help.

http://chiefalchemist.com/topic/time-management

http://chiefalchemist.com/topic/productivity-tools

Full disclosure: These are not articles I have written but things I share to my workstream on said topics in hopes that others might find them useful. Like Twitter without the noise and excessive brevity.