I used to never finish personal projects. Then I realized that the biggest thing preventing me from finishing them was (perversely) my sense of duty to get them finished. Once I decided that I was under no obligation to anyone to work on them, not even myself, I had no trouble finding the motivation to get them done. So now side projects are a strictly "just for fun" affair. I work on them when I feel like, no deadlines, and once they're "in production" I maintain them because I like tinkering.

The only problem with this approach is I've gone from hating the thought of programming after work to coming up with side projects at work.