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I'll start things and then get bored and go do something else. How can I stop this and learn to focus?
Make them the sole source of your income. ;)
/etc/hosts file. Block all distracting websites. Even your own. Only enable the one you're working on. Works wonders.
Windows users: c:/windows/system32/drivers/etc/hosts
Add entries:
127.0.0.1 google.com
etc...
Coffee and tiredness
Sufficiently tired and running on coffee, you will get less distracted and focus hard until you get it done. Don't use too frequently and wind-down with a cold beer and a long sleep when finished in the very early hours.
Music
Some music blocks distractions. Go to shoutcast or somewhere like that and try different types of music, not necessarily music you like.
Nagging
Appoint a project manager. Could be a wife, girlfriend, (husband, boyfriend), or even an employee. Task them with keeping you on task.
I have suffered from this and tried a few things......
Make them the sole source of your income
A very good motivator, however, makes you feel like you have to do it, adds to the pressure, and I really don't like thinking I have to do something. Before long I'd end up hating the project and want to go back to a 9-5!
/etc/hosts file. Block all distracting websites. Even your own. Only enable the one you're working on. Works wonders.
Hmmm, never thought of that. Maybe I should add one for WebmasterWorld?!
Seriously though, if you have to go that far, remove your DNS server addresses, that'll disable everything, then just add 1 hosts entry for your work in progress.
Sufficiently tired and running on coffee
If I'm too wired, I just end up fiddling with even more stuff - apart from what I'm meant to be doing.
A little coffee however will help get the job done quicker when you do start work on it.
MusicSome music blocks distractions
Absolutely! Not radio, if you hear people speaking you'll keep finding yourself actively listening to them, but I always have music playing, only quietly though. This helps block out everything which is the more effective solution I've ever used. Your mind can then focus on it's task, and if you need a break it's nice to let your mind wander and listen to the music for a while.
Nagging
See "Make them the sole source of your income". Just makes me NOT want to do it even more.
Another thing I find helpful, if you can work in this method, have a few different things going on at once, I try to keep 4 or 5 projects on the go at one. When you get bored of one, move onto another. It also keeps the work very varied so it doesn't feel repetetive.
Currently, I am working for 2 contract agencies, installing/upgrading EPOS and ATM hardware, have 1 website almost complete, 1 almost started, and 2 huge ongoing sites. The last 2 are extremely large management sites, spanning multiple domains.
You need to be good at managing your time for that though, and have a good idea of deadlines. Oh, and the coffee thing helps too! ;)
I have too many ideas, and I try to do to much all at once. Invariably, when the one I'm working on gets tedious, I get bored, when I get bored, I end up starting something else.
I've bought domains with every intention of building a site around them...only to do nothing and let it expire a year later.
I've been renovating my house since I bought it...six years ago. Granted, it's no small project, but if I could work at it full time for a month, I could get it done (or at least close).
Music helps me keep focused at work, but even then, if I get a project to the "tedious" stage (last 20%) nothing helps. It's simply too boring. And I'll slow down.
For example, if you approach a task as three twenty-minute chunks instead of something that takes an hour, you can usually push yourself for a few more minutes to complete a stage even if focus is fading. Do something different for a while then come back to the next stage.
The thing is to keep nibbling at the day's most important task until it's complete ... even if it takes all week!
Your brain, or so I'm informed, builds up links between neurons. Links between close neurons allow for simple thoughts, and they are built first. Long-distance detailed networks of links are difficult and complex thoughts.
It seems that beer, more specifically alcohol, but most preferably beer, breaks down these long links. It makes you incapable of forming particularly high-level thoughts.
The next morning when the beer has worn off, you don't have any of that jam of complex thoughts which were dragging you down, and you can build up your networks again with your current aims better 'in mind'.
I have no idea of the truth in this, but I know that if work is really getting stressful, a couple of tins of beer in the evening once in a week on a friday night clears my head to focus better the next morning.
Of course, if you have difficulty drinking responsibly or are at risk of alcoholism then you shouldn't consider trying this.
So it works out very well for us- I start all these projects, then she comes and sees them through to completion. Unfortunately, it took years of her b*tching at me about having to clean up after my messes before we finally saw things in this perspective. :)
So the ideal is for you to find someone else with complementary traits to work together with you.
It seems that beer, more specifically alcohol, but most preferably beer, breaks down these long links...The next morning when the beer has worn off, you don't have any of that jam of complex thoughts which were dragging you down,
Beer eh? Finally I can claim it on my expenses. I'll start right away! ;P
You'll never turn a profit again...heh.
