A different attitude toward your tasks does occur when you're doing it for yourself. When I was in corporate, I got a salary no matter what I did. So I tended to subconsciously look at the task as whether or not I was happy doing it. If I was working a 70 hour week, you can bet I wasn't that happy doing my tasks, no matter what they were.

But now, doing the same tasks for myself, I do think about the intrinsic "enjoyment score" of each task, but I get a bit more satisfaction in being able to say, "oh well, this task is not fun, but it's my car payment (or, half my mortgage, or the phone bill, etc.)." For instance, I had to write a report over Christmas, when I was visiting my kids. If I had to write the report at my salaried job, I would have been resentful having to work over the holidays. But I was able to tell myself, OK, it's a few hours away from the kids today, but it pays for Christmas and our visit to see them.

There's more of a direct link between the sowing and reaping as it were.

AND there's the added benefit of recognizing that I took on the work. It was my choice. I could have turned it down. Try telling your boss, "nah, I don't want to write that report. I'm visiting my kids."