Strouty, not to get you started down another rabbit hole, but I watch a guy on youtube that lives a couple hours from me and he is building a 75ft boat in his front yard, in Tulsa, anyway, he is inspirational for me. I bring him up because one of the things he does and recommends is to put quotes up all around his home, shop, boat etc that help him stay on track with what he wants to do in life. I saw an interview of him by another channel that mentioned the same thing, they had interviewed quite a few people that did things out of the norm and one of the things most of them did was to have quotes around them, whether sayings, direct quoted, scriptures, lyrics etc.
I think it would be a good idea to write a few things on the walls, floors wherever it is handy, you can even just use chalk or put it on paper and tape it to the doors, doesn't have to be fancy or permanent.
I also think it is good to have help, not just physical help, but mental support as well, I think that is why I spend time over on practical machinist, I run my shop by myself and it seems to be good to get on there and be able to help others and get help with things from people going through similar situations. The problem then becomes keeping it balanced, not spending too much time on forums even though the intention was/is good.
It may not be a bad idea to plan a get together with people to come to the shop and hangout, help, whatever. This could be motivating and also helpful for new ideas and like a barn raising it could get some larger projects done pretty fast and that alone is pretty motivating and exciting.
Thanks for having the guts to put your shop struggles and such on here,
Jason