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I definitely notice that effect personally. The problem is, I often find myself easily distracted (e.g. opening HN!) when faced with a hard problem or a "mental

• JacobJans 13y ago
  There are a number of things you can do to stay focused and on task. Some of them you probably already do. The first is to simply have a clearly defined goal. While this is obvious, it is also easy to miss. If we don't have a clearly defined task, we don't know whether or not we've completed it. But even if you have a clearly defined goal, it can still be easy to get distracted. There are two primary reasons for this. The first: If you don't know what the next step is, it can be difficult to stay focused. The next time you get stuck, ask yourself how clearly you know what your next step is. If you're not sure what to do, then make sure you spend the time figuring that out. But what if you have a clear goal, and you know exactly what you need to do, but you're still not staying focused? Then you've probably got a motivation problem. The way to deal with this is pretty straight forward. Simply spend time thinking about the reasons it is important to complete the task, or achieve the goal. Don't try to trick yourself here. Be honest. If you can't find any good enough reasons to stay focused, then maybe you should be doing something else. In summary: Have a clearly defined goal. Make sure you know exactly what you're next step is. And make sure you have the proper motivation. If you're interested in this stuff, I recommend reading about the "mental contrasting" technique, as well as the book "Succeed" by Heidi Grant Halvorson.