What are the best ways to stay motivated while working on a long-term database development project?

What is not measured cannot be controlled, and what is not controlled cannot be improved. It's crucial to journal our tasks and keep track of them. For this purpose, I maintain a Kanban board with columns such as 'To Do,' 'In Progress,' and 'Completed,' where I jot down all my ideas and tasks that require attention. From the listed tasks, I start with those of higher priority. Regular tracking is essential—daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly. Conducting an annual review is particularly rewarding, providing a comprehensive overview of all the progress achieved.

While this is "true" setting goals is good, sometimes goals pop-up during the process, more if it is a long project. I would go a higher level and say that you need to plan correctly in a way that, if new goals appears on the way, you can adapt your tasks/priorities and find a balance. For me the answer is always in analysis and planning, even knowing that you can't get all the details and forecast the future and will be unforeseen events along the way, but if you structure your project, your plan to be resilient then is a lot more easier to navigate the unforeseen events and adapt quickly almost painless.

The following quote has been instrumental in my personal development: 'If you only do what you can do you will never be more than you are now' One should envision themselves as the professional they aspire to become in 5 or 10 years, working in their dream job. Every new piece of knowledge acquired represents a step closer to that goal. This way, motivation is derived from learning something new every day.

I would add that every project or even "support incident" has in it's own something to learn. I keep notes of everything I face and how I troubleshoot or solve challenges I've built over the years folders of scripts (code snippets), texts, solutions, even videos of how I worked a particular issue, sometimes along your life in other projects you hit something similar or the same and you don't remember what was the approach, looking back in your documentation is a way to get started, maybe you come up with a new solution -since you are more mature and have more experience- sometimes is just applying a successful recipe.

Well if you planned accordingly, this point should be contained in your plan as a functional part of the project, you are not a machine, and you need to "sleep over" certain things to find a creative solution, hitting the same problem all day is not gonna give you a new perspective, taking your mind out of the problem will. Always plan with buffers not only availability and deadlines. Remember that will be unforeseen events, they always appear. Scenarios What-If is important to go through.

In conjunction with remembering your purpose, I find it very valuable to my motivation to be able to quantify it as well. At one point in my career I led a small development team, and we took on the task of automating a very complex, partially outsourced process for our employer. As features built and return on investment started to become consistent, it became clear that the project would be worth quite a bit in cash savings. At the end of the day though, there is a world of difference between hearing, "well, you saved us quite a bit of money" and seeing "$40 million/year direct savings" on financial statements that is directly attributable to your team, and to you as a team member.

Embracing a minimalist mindset is key to boosting productivity. Maintain an organized workspace, declutter your inbox, journal tasks and ideas, eliminate daily obstacles, and automate repetitive tasks for efficiency. This streamlined approach not only simplifies your workflow but also fosters a clear path to achieving your goals.

Tente manter o ambiente de trabalho o melhor possível, torna do um ambiente agradável onde todos se sintam bem. Tornando a equipe unida e mais produtiva. Desta forma, depois de um certo tempo, as reuni?es de acompanhamento das atividades ser?o muito mais úteis, pois todos ir?o se importar e auxiliar nas atividades do restante da equipe.