One very minor hack, I have a few little desk toys (piece of bicycle chain, a spinner, some plastic blocks). I used to switch to another task while waiting for

One very minor hack, I have a few little desk toys (piece of bicycle chain, a spinner, some plastic blocks). I used to switch to another task while waiting for those 2-5-10-60 second type waits (a pipeline, code compiling, whatever) and then find myself lost an hour later. Now I try to just stay in the task I'm working on, even if I'm waiting for the machine. Grab a toy and watch the progress bar. Another thing I've learned from work somewhat, but primarily from exercise-- habits build amazingly quickly. It's easy to feel like "there's no point" in not following a distraction, because you'll never be able to fully break that habit anyway. But seriously, a very small amount of repetition makes a new "normal" way quicker than you'd ever expect. Thinking of giving in to a distraction? Just don't. Just this time, don't. Do that enough times, and you have a new normal. And even if you only do it the one time, it was a success.