My girlfriend constantly calls me and "workaholic".
It's a word that I kind of like, but I don't feel that it suits me.
Yes, I work a lot, but it's because I like it. I like to write, I like to code, I like to create art, and I like to learn new things. Sometimes it requires some effort and sometimes it gets frustrating but overall, I'm happier working on all these things that not working on them.
Even now, being away for 7 months for a seasonal job that I have in Germany, I can still find some spare time to work on something outside of my job, be it either these articles, some coding or a small art project. I just like it.
Because my girlfriend likes to remind me to relax and calls me a "workaholic" when I don't do it, I sometimes like to "impress" her with how much I do in a good day. It's not impressing her in a good or a bad way, it's just her looking at me saying "What the fuck" when I write 10 articles, I code a small project and I finish a quick art sketch in just a single day.
Even though nowadays the idea of working for yourself and never trying to impress other people is being promoted as the main way to go in life, I still think that impressing those around you that you care about and that care about you can be a good motivator.
It will not always work. Actually, most of the time it might not be what drives you. It shouldn't. If you work really hard for a long time to impress someone close to you, but they aren't impressed, that reaction can really bring you down. So you really need to find a different reason for your efforts.
However, working on something different once in a while for the sake of showing it to someone close to you and seeing their reaction, be it surprise or happiness, can help you work on and finish a new and interesting project, or just a big amount of work.
Another thing I like to do once in a while is to pick a difficult project that I wouldn't necessarily work on and make sure that I not only finish it, but I nail it. I like to see the face of my girlfriend and my friends when I show it to them and they all look at me like "Wait, you can do that?"
It might be a silly way to get motivated, a reason to work that won't last for too long, but at the end of the day, if it makes you feel good about the progress you make, and if it helps you get up in the morning and be productive for a day, a week, or a month, without frustration and without the fear of failure, then working to impress someone else who is close to you might be a good enough reason to do something useful.