What motivates me is having a clear large goal (like say, adding a new core functionality to an app), and then break it down into small tasks that can easily be done in regular days of work.

You end up with an ever increasing list of "completed" tasks until you eventually reach a shipping point and you can have a celebration party or whatever.

The hard part is then managing deadlines and expectations from then on with whoever wants the product, where good managers can make progress feel very present and visible, which in turns makes speed feel predictable and everyone can plan with realistic expectations.