If you come across - Linus presentation about git - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XpnKHJAok8, he not only presented git well. He also commands everything (respect, technology, competitors) even as a developer.
Whenever I feel low, I watch that video. It really motivates me, though it was not his intention. I learn lot of lesson, give lot of commitment at work to command things around me.
Is there anything like that in your life? could be books, even piece of code.
I am motivated more by helping my customers, rather than showing off to other to other developers. Of course, it's nice to have some respect from your peer group. But it is even better to get emails from your customers telling you how much your software helped them.
So, if you need motivation, get some customers!
The biggest kick is seeing people use my software and winning customers thanks to a particular feature or improvement.
For external motivation I find listening to almost any leader in our craft is motivating. My main sources are podcasts and books but others seem to get the same fix through blogs, user groups, etc... I guess the secret is to expose oneself to talent and dedication to the subject in whatever form one can find it.
I have particular love of ideas that originate in another field or time but which also seen core to creating relevant software today.
"the separation of the Idea into classes, by dividing it where the natural joints are, and not trying to break any part, after the manner of a bad carver … I love these processes of division and bringing together … and if I think any other man is able to see things that can naturally be collected into one and divided into many, him will I follow as if he were a god."
-- Plato, 400 B.C., via Object Thinking by Dr. David West.
"Too much horsing around with ... classic forms and rituals is just too artificial and mechanical, and doesn't really prepare the student ... their practitioners are merely blindly rehearsing routines and stunts that will lead nowhere ... each one of us should be taught the correct form, by correct form I mean the most useful techniques the person is inclined toward, find his ability and then develop these techniques ... as long as the fundamental principle is not violated. When one has reached maturity in the art, one will have a formless form. It is like ice dissolving in water. When one has no form, one can be all forms; when one has no style, he can fit in with any style."
-- Bruce Lee
"Fall seven times. Stand up eight."
-- Old Japanese Proverb.
I doubt the originators of these quotes ever thought they would be applied to a log parsing utility :-)
Really, the most important thing that motivates me is knowing that I'm relatively dumb, and that there's a huge wealth of knowledge for me to impart upon myself. Every project teaches me new things, and there's always room to learn more.
Developers who start with nothing and build products that change the world.
I was really inspired watching "Pirates of Silicon Valley". Yes, just a movie but shows, in a way, the story of developers starting with nothing but an idea they thought was cool and, after a lot of hard work and some fun, becoming a world changing idea.
Another huge inspiration is customers appreciating the work you do.