I once had 5 wardrobe boxes full of unfinished projects. It took me six years to finish them all. I made a goal that I wouldn't buy anything else unless it was to finish one of these projects. Now I limit myself to one project at a time. Something one of our members said was very useful. She said to design the quilt pattern that will go on the sandwich at the beginning so there wouldn't be a natural stopping point. Great idea for me. Especially because it may take me a couple of years to come up with a design.
So now I have a picture of the completed quilt and I don't want to stop until I get there.
Also knowing I have to complete this quilt before I start the next is a motivating factor.
And being a member of a 12 step program I also check to see if I'm not finishing because I'm afraid that it won't look as good as I imagine, or that someone may make an unfortunate comment.
There are some points in the process that are for me daunting and I have to push through those in order to finish.
For charity quilts I give myself a deadline so I have an idea when I want them finished. I decide kind of based on how long it takes me to do each piece. I'm usually working with a kit so it is iron top and backing 1 day, Sandwich 2 days, quilt two weeks, bind 5 days, put on label, clip threads and wash 1 day.
If I'm piecing all bets are off it takes me forever.