I guess there's two kinds of attention here: short-term (I can't concentrate enough to do an hour's good work) and longer-term (a few weeks into a project I get

I guess there's two kinds of attention here: short-term (I can't concentrate enough to do an hour's good work) and longer-term (a few weeks into a project I get bored and do something else). For short-term, some people love the Pomodoro technique but I found it too restricting. For me, I just have to find something interesting enough (or find a way to make something interesting enough). For longer term projects, there are two rules: * Do it every day, or every weekday. You can find the time, just keep to a schedule. I've made a website (www.relayapp.com) and two iPhone apps during my train/bus commute over the past 18 months. It's tough at the start but you get into it. * Break everything into small chunks. I have a list of unit tests to write in a text file and I can always do something in 30 minutes. If not, I spend my time thinking of small tasks I can do next time. Making it easy to make some progress is what keeps you going.