Combining fun with short-term goals is what works for me. I started playing squash 10 years ago and I love it. I play 3 times a week and that takes care of most of my cardio. Now when I lift weights or do extra cardio, it is because I want to beat that guy from league, move up a division, etc. Open ended reasons like health or beauty were never enough motivation for me.

I don’t currently hate my job, but i used to hate it. That is point 1: sometimes things get better. Point 2 is that i used to write down all the things i hated about my job. This did not help. Instead i started making lists of things that were good about my job. It was a short list for a while, and sometimes the items were pretty weak (e.g. nice water fountain). seems silly, but doing this put my brain in the mode of looking for a positive. it actually helped get me through some tough days. Point 3 is to work on anything you can find that makes it more tolerable: bring a nice lunch, keep snacks available, use your vacation time (if available). self care was huge - i hated my job every day, but on days when i was tired, it was excruciating. on days when i was rested, it was merely annoying.