Like most people, I also think up of ways to improve my self constantly. I decided to start observing my self to get to know what exactly are the conditions in which I perform better and what can add to my inspiration and motivation. Most code jockeys I know of course do not indulge in sports, but benchmarking your own self really does give you that ecstasy of an athlete

Here what I have noted so far and I think I would definitely be updating this post to add more stuff as I go along finding more facets.


1. Times of day:

Well, believe it or not but I have noticed quite a relationship between times of the day and my ability to think up a software design and code speed. For one, my best thinking timings are early in the morning, like really early. As early as 05:00 a.m. to 08:00 a.m.
During this time I noted that I can jot down / diagram / visualize many more modules / objects than I can during the whole day. Also, when I hit the sack, that's the time when I get to really see algorithms at work. Some of the best solutions have come to my mind during my "approaching to sleep" state.
Now as for the code speed, that's at it's peak from 08:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ~ 01:00 p.m. again provided I know exactly what I need to do.

2. Coding in Time Pockets

For my self, I noted that I code at my top speed in regular 3 hour intervals, i.e. Code for 3 hours continuously, take a break for an hour or 20 minutes (just to relax my mind a bit or filling more fuel in the mind tank) and then start coding again.
However during 08:00 a.m. ~ 12:30 p.m. I don't need to take a break at all so it's straight 4.5 hours of coding only!

3. Emotional State

Well, I make sure that I DO NOT read the paper at all before starting work. I attended a seminar once in which the speaker (a renowned personality on the subject of mind sciences) told us that most people after reading the morning paper, find themselves stuck in more traffic jams. They find more bumps on the road and amazingly they don't enjoy their coffee / tea even though it's brewed fresh!
I gotta say I was a bit skeptic about it and had forgotten the notion completely. But during my observation, it suddenly struck me when I realized for my self how important your emotional state is for you to perform better. Those moments kinda flashed before my eyes, much like you see in a Hollywood movie - Ok now that's weird!
Sorry, kinda got de-tracked. So obviously the happier you are the best you would perform. I'd even say that apart from being in a healthy happy state of mind, you need to be really inspired also to produce even more quality work.
A friend of mine who is a very cool graphic designer, was telling me yesterday when we were hangin out, that he needs to be inspired to produce some good stuff. Well, that might be one of the reasons why he worships csszengarden (shhh! he don't know he worships it, and wouldn't accept it either, although we {his friends} know that he does and doesn't know it - so let's just keep this between you and me :P)
How to achieve a happy state of mind ? - I aint even a novice at this at all, but I got a few suggestions:

1. A $300 per hour shrink can work
2. Dope can be much as good, provided you know you won't be found in some drain pipe afterwards - but thats a crapy idea anyways
3. Music ! - that could be great inspiration too
4. Hypnotize yourself ! - show 2 fingers up to the world when you are working (I've found this one more helpful than others)
5. Just identify which positive emotion

In the end you are your best judge in this matter so don't hang around scratchin your balls thinking in loops "what to do now huh ? ... duhhhh" ... just do it!
Identify which positive emotion drives you the most, concentrate on it and use it to reach that desired level of motivation. I mean, having said positive, I am not ruling out anger. Like this is the kind of emotion counter-strike gamers use a lot

4. Time Yourself!

Yup! that's the only kick in the nuts you could ever be thankful about! - If you like any sports, or even StarWars, you'd wanna have this confidence. Make you feel like Master Yoda or your favorite sports star (or even a team). This could really give you more confidence in terming yourself as a rock star, a master or whatever mambo jambo.
Ok, about what I felt? - well, to be honest, when I started it, made me feel more like the training sessions you see in all Rocky movies - preparing for the big fight. It even adds in motivation for you to stay focused, avoid distractions in order to get a good score.
I'd leave it up to you, the many ways you can be creative in using this virtue for your benefits.
But here's what I experimented: I asked a friend of mine who is a team-lead in a respectable firm here to try it out on his team. Well, according to him, the results were great! - He told me that his team was having more fun while their efficiency was increasing. In the end he says, "It's like that movie, 'Searching for Bobby Fischer', the youngest soul to be a chess champion".
Tip: I recently started using PostTask.com - and I gotta say, this can be a very handy tool for timing your tasks. Although I want some more variables I can set and control to actually help me time myself correctly, but this app is surely the closest coolest app I could find for this purpose.