The project needs to drive you forward
In the beginning, your energy will drive you forward. You’ll start a new project with excitement, the quick wins will make you want to keep going.
After a while, when your energy runs lows, the project itself will have to bring you forward.
Discipline works, will power works, you can even practice them both. But their resources are limited.
Eventually, the project itself will have to drag you forward. The mission will have to pull you forward. The thought of the art itself will pull you forward. And if it doesn’t, you’ll lose interest. Work and play will seem like separate entities. The magic happens when they don’t.
When choosing to work on something, it’s smart to pick something which feels important. Important to you.
Even better is when it’s interesting. Interesting to you. An interest can lead to an obsession. And when that happens, you can’t help but follow it. The work itself will drive you forward. You’ll fall in love. What others see as work, you’ll see as play. You’ll finish sessions with more energy than you started.
Find a project which sparks an interest. Then follow it. And when your energy runs low, use it to push you forward.