[phkahler]

I've seen this as well. Other peoples problems offer an escape from my own. There isn't any pressure to solve them so there is definitely a different feel to them. There is also choice, if I hear about 5 other peoples problems, I may have insight into one or two but not the others and I can devote my spare cycles to the promising ones.

One approach for getting your own work done may be to think of your future self. That's who you're doing it for. This also gives less immediacy to the problem in addition to distance. "Older me is going to really appreciate this 3 months from now."

[MereInterest]

It also gives you the advantage of putting yourself in a different mindset. For that, I usually use "3 AM me" as the comparison. Any API that is usable by fully-conscious daytime me, but is prone to errors by "3 AM me" is one that needs to be improved. If an API can be used by "3 AM me", along with all the stress and pressure that led to late-night coding, then it is sufficient.

[Angostura]

Not only is there less pressure, but there is also the immediate pressure of gratitude from your peers, it's great to be able to help someone out and get a heartfelt thankyou. They are also often quite interesting and let you learn something about a new domain.

And suddenly I understand why I keep volunteering to help on gnarly little projects that are peripheral to my main job - even though I'm extraordinarily busy.