Motivation is fairly useless. Persistence, discipline, consistency...that's what you need. Motivation comes in short bursts but won't sustain you through anything worth doing. I've never run a marathon but I'd guess that motivation isn't what gets them to the finish line.
I never started this business with the intention of learning machining. This was a side gig to help my dad and spend some time with him. He produced the goods, I did the rest. About a year or so into it I saw the potential of this little side gig but, more importantly, I loved it. There was one problem, my dad wasn't interested in producing enough to sustain my family. Fair enough Pops. My choice was to either find another shop to produce my designs or learn it myself. I opted to learn it myself. There was probably some motivation to learn it but that wouldn't have gotten us here. Every Thursday I'd drive about 150 miles to my dad's house in Joshua Tree, machine for 2-4 days, 15ish hours per day (whatever was needed) and leave his house around 6-7pm on the last day. I'd get home around 9 or 10, crash, get up the next day and start the finish work, packaging, shipping, marketing, design etc.Â
I wasn't motivated, I was persistent, had a goal and worked at it every day.
Keep on, keepin' on and you'll get there.
