Something similar solved the problem for me too. I used to spend most of the day reading HN, reddit and other sites. I even remember a week last year where I sa

Something similar solved the problem for me too. I used to spend most of the day reading HN, reddit and other sites. I even remember a week last year where I sat at work for the required 40 hours and didn't get a single thing done. Now I sometimes close my browser at the end of the day and realise I never got round to looking at the HN tab I opened first thing in the morning. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say I'm at least 10x as productive. All it took was to start keeping a log book. Any time I get something new to do (e.g. new feature, bug fix), I write it down, prefixed with "TODO" and highlight it to make it easy to spot as I flick through the book looking for unfinished tasks. Any time I solve a problem, I write down what the problem was, why it was happening, and how I solved it. Having the book next to my keyboard serves as a constant reminder of what I should be working on, and that really helps to focus whenever I get the temptation to open my browser and get distracted. Keeping a record of how I solve problems always has a chance of being useful in the future, but it's incredibly rewarding (and therefore motivating) to see the pages fill up each day. It's just a nice, quick visual indicator of progress.