I have the same issue, and being a self-taught SWE, it's a real problem. There are a few different methods I've implemented to manage my time (daily journals,

I have the same issue, and being a self-taught SWE, it's a real problem. There are a few different methods I've implemented to manage my time (daily journals, project-specific tracking documents, rabid control over my work environment) and they deal with different aspects of the more general problem of "stay focused and track progress", but the thing I use that seems to fit your case most specifically is the pomodoro technique (https://pomodoro-tracker.com/ https://pomodoro-tracker.com/). It helps in four very specific ways: 1. Motivating to sit down and work on a task: work is divided into 20 minute chunks, so it doesn't feel emotionally expensive 2. Staying focused on the task at hand: you have a named timer maintaining your focus on the goal of that block 3. Planning a route: being forced to regularly and intentionally state what a block of time is meant to accomplish helps breaking down large and complex problems 4. Self assessment: you end up with a list of twenty minutes blocks that you either had to repeat or got finished with early. For me, this revealed a lot about where my time was going that I didn't realize at first. As a bonus, there is zero learning curve, and nearly no added overhead. Hit the link, type in the goal for the next 20 minutes, and go. Hope this helps. Best of luck! Edit: formatting and a link