Motivation and time management

I recently had the discussion of how to stay motivated when you're self employed with my forum-pals and these are the handy hints everyone came up with!

• firstly, if you have some orders to fulfil, get them done! State the obvious, you say but there's nothing like leaving them to the last minute to cause a mad panic and mistakes can be made when you're rushing!
• Write a task list/ to do list - daily or weekly or both! I think this is an invaluable tip as sometimes you know you have a long list in your mind but if you write it down it is a lot less scary and you wont forget anything!
• have a few projects on the go so if you get bored doing one thing you can move to the another for a while. This includes paper work. How dull is it to spend a whole day doing paperwork! spread it out if you can by doing a bit everyday.
• If you're really feeling in a slump why not take a look back at projects you've done in the past and see how fantastic/successful you have been! If you receive great feedback from customers why not keep them in a folder so you can easily find them and read them again.
• keep a routine - structure your day like work, have a lunch break at a set time etc and don't put the tv on as it's very distracting!
• work in small blocks, a couple of hours and then have a treat - you can even make it business orientated - like having a chat to likeminded people on a forum.
• business projections are a great motivation as long as they're realistic. If you set yourself a target to turn over a million in a year but you only make £500 you're going to be a little deflated. Under estimate and you'll be over the moon when you exceed it!
• Like the best dieticians say - eat when you feel hungry. In a crafting world - craft when you feel the need. Some days you just might not be in the creative mood and new ideas are simply blocked. Why not spend that time catching up on the paperwork, supply ordering etc.
• Following from above, however, someone suggested creating something new at least daily which to me makes sense even if the next day you hate what you did and have to redo it :S
• project management software. I've yet to find a decent open source one (message me if you know of one) but if you have the money to invest in some and think you will find it useful do it!

So far, these hints and tips are working for me, particularly the todo lists. If I have 5 minutes free - for example waiting for the paint to dry on my current poject - I look at my list for something I can do to fill time!

If anyone has any other hints and tips, please do share it by leaving a comment!