1. Completely eliminate the source of distraction. This can be temporary, with essential things. The separation can reset habits. With lesser things, remove them permanently.
2. Try to procrastinate with activities that are still productive. Don't feel like working on your major project? Complete some chores.
3. Create names for bad habits. Then, when you notice you're doing the habit, say "oh, I'm doing X again". Often naming something is the first step to beating it.
I agree with these suggestions, and I'd like to add to #1.
Get away from your usual place of work. If you can go to a place such as a library, empty office space, or school campus you'll be more focused. These places should be a bit unfamiliar so you're not as comfortable there. Don't think this applies to everyone, but I have seen it work well in my situation.
I have to admit I sometimes find myself in the same boat as this post and I'm always looking for ways to improve productivity.
This works very well for me. Sometimes, just moving away from my main work area to another room works wonders for productivity. Heck, changing my Emacs color scheme sometimes makes me feel more inclined to work. It's not a replacement for true discipline but it's a neat trick that can get you out of a rut.
This worked for me. When I needed to get work done on a school project, I would get off my home computer and head to the school labs or go in to work after hours. I was far more productive than staying at home.
Far from being a productivity guru, some things that have definitely worked for me:
1) Lists. By priority. Also checking off easy tasks as low-hanging fruit to reduce overall pressure of all those tasks.
2) RescueTime - a free service that highlighted where I would drift out of productivity and for how long, and typically when I would do it. This helped me to tighten up my day and focus on which distractions I wanted to keep, while making their use more efficient.
3) Deadlines. Don't work as well as the above on their own, but in conjunction with other people they tend to help. Find a partner or confidant.
4) Do something else/take a break. If you find yourself just sitting in the place you want to work, but not actually working, get away. Walk, talk, read, play a game. When you get bored of doing that, you'll probably want to work for one reason or another. This may take a few hours or a few days, and isn't always practical, but reminds you of the importance and satisfaction of working.
5) Keep researching productivity methods (despite most of them requiring as much work to maintain as the task itself) and share them. With me, if you can!
One, don't try to reason it out. Don't make every chance you have to slack off be a constant mental battle of willpower. This is why eliminating distractions works so well. Also, just make it a habit. This is the harder part, but try something like the pomodoro method, where you work for 25 minutes, and take a 5 minute break. No distractions at all during that 25 minute period. Once that becomes a habit, it gets much easier.
Conversely, if you do find yourself wondering why your doing what your doing, or you have to convince yourself, just think of what you want to accomplish. Is it going to the gym, or working on a side project, or reading more? Just think of the first step. The first step of going to the gym is just getting in the door. Getting in the door is not very hard, but how can you possibly get fit without getting to the door? Whenever you lack motivation, just ask if you've completed step one (http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2011/07/18/step-one/)
Check if you have Adult ADD. 8% of people have it, and if you have it and don't know it, it can lead to a lot of frustration with yourself.
You can print out a preliminary test here, and have a sibling or close friend fill out one half--you'll fill in the other. If you score high, there's a good chance you have ADD and should make an appointment with a psychiatrist so he or she can guide you through the diagnosis and narrow down whether you have ADD or not.
1. Track the things you want to accomplish. Joe's Goals is good for that. If your problem is working enough hours a day, track hours.
2. To-Do lists. I use ToodleDo religiously.
3. Block distracting internet sites. I use SelfControl (for Mac.)
4. Quit your biggest distractions altogether. (For me, that's webforums. I deleted all my webforum accounts.)
Systems are great if it's just forcing yourself to do stuff you're really going to need to do. In a way, that's the easy part. The hard part: when you chronically avoid doing something, often it's because you genuinely don't want to do it, and the right answer is to find a way to stop doing it entirely. One of the biggest improvements in my recent life was to identify certain kinds of work that made me miserable, and make a plan so that I'd never have to do them again. Discipline is a good thing for work that's a little hard and boring but still worthwhile to you; but discipline can't get you through work that you really hate, at least not for long.
I am not a fan of using discipline to get things done. I think it is akin to brute force. Come up with a reason to do the task. Think about the users you will please, think about impressing your client or boss, think about the money you will make.
Essentially discipline is the ability to do something even when you don't want to. However, I believe an unwillingness to excel at your work underscores a larger problem: you don't like what you're doing
This doesn't have to be an objective property of the work. With the wrong attitude, the wrong physical and mental health, the wrong financial situation, the wrong sleep, the wrong anything, it is possible to dislike and even resent rewarding work.
Attack the disease, not the symptoms. Discipline is only a plug in the deck of a sinking ship.
2. Try to procrastinate with activities that are still productive. Don't feel like working on your major project? Complete some chores.
3. Create names for bad habits. Then, when you notice you're doing the habit, say "oh, I'm doing X again". Often naming something is the first step to beating it.