Machine Quilting

I am currently on the learning curve of machine quilting and finding it very steep! I am quilting the full-size leaf quilt and finding it quite a chore, but I know it is simply a matter of practicing and putting in the hours to get better at it. But yesterday, as I was working on it, I found that I kept getting up and putting it off. I do this a lot when something is not going well. Of course, that was breaking my rhythm and making it go worse, but the tension of holding the quilting steady is also not something one can sustain for very long. How does one do it???? I really, really want to learn this.