I am rather fortunate in that I have a good manager to work for. He checks on me about once every two or three weeks to see how things are rolling since he trusts that I can get the job done on my own. He also has several qualities that make working for him (dare I say it?) fun.

1. A devious side that matches mine. We were getting connection attempts from a certain clueless person, and it was his suggestion to route the attempts to chargen and see who complains about computer problems. Nice treatment, IMHO.
2. He lets me get my work done how I want to. That means if I want to use Perl, he's behind me 100% as long as it gets done.
3. He's fun to hang out with after hours. I completely understand what jcwren is saying about getting together with coworkers after work hours (yech), but anytime I can get together with a bunch of senior managers and play Magic: The Gathering, or Battletech, etc, it's a Good Thing
4. Last, but certainly not least - he respects that I have a personal life. I ran into him in the grocery store a weekend or two ago and I tried telling him what I had been working on lately. He cut me off and basically told me I shouldn't be thinking about such things on a Saturday.

I realize this isn't exactly a checklist of what techniques he uses to motivate, but the items above are why I feel motivated on a Monday morning. I think the biggest thing is the fact that I'm trusted to do the job right with whatver tools I decide are right for the job.

Guildenstern
Negaterd character class uber alles!