Staying motivated

Yup. I've gotten to the point where when I get those rare random boosts of motivation I drop whatever it was I was doing and immediately jump on doing as much as I can as long as I can until the motivation wears off. Second I even get the inkling, the mere thought of "doing this necessary but otherwise boring thing doesn't feel like the end of the world at this second" I take advantage. Even if I was in the middle of something else. I wouldn't just go to sleep, even if I was tired, I'd get shit done until it wore off and then go to sleep.

But, those bursts are rare and don't always correspond with due dates.
For me the stick just seems to be a better motivator than the carrot, unfortunately. Whenever I have like, school work for example, I usually put it off till the last minute, which stresses me the fuck out, and that stress and fear of failure is the motivation to kick my ass into gear and start studying/working.
I have my calendar out on my wall, very prominently displayed so I cannot ignore it. When I see something is due the next day my thought process is usually as such:
>If I don't turn that assignment in on time, I'll fail the class
>If I fail the class, I'll have wasted the $600+ I paid for it.
>If I fail the class I'll have to retake the class, meaning I'll miss my graduation date and have to spend even more money on my degree.
> I don't have any more money, therefore I'll just have to drop out and never get my degree, and therefore I'll be forced to do slave wage jobs for the rest of my life, having to choose between food and electricity every other month, and never having any savings for emergencies and such.
Then I scare myself so much I just get the fucking work done so I don't have to live in that state of existential dread.

Is it exaggerated? Yes. It's not very healthy either, I don't exactly recommend it, but it works. Fear has always been a very effective form of motivation tho. That's why politicians and religion uses it to control the masses

That's the problem with motivation, it never lasts. What you want it discipline - it lets you do anything motivation helps with regardless of your state of mind. What you want to do in order to see real progress is to become better at creating good habits. It doesn't matter if you start off small, what's important is that you create a routine and just stick to it, then just incrementally increase the intensity.