How do you automate arbitrary programming assignments without cheating by having someone else do them? There were piles of little problems I had to do in programming. It being mundane was obvious when contrasted to better options like having people build a neat app or game piece-by-piece as they go through lessons. Land of LISP comes to mind. Also has amusing artwork.
How do you study mundane, endless trivia "right" where it's not boring or wearing you out? I managed to do what studying I needed to do but it was far from fun. The only times it was fun was when the material itself was fun. It was still work but at least interesting work. Most weren't, though.
Good question. I think a lot of it starts with motivation. If you are just studying something for fun then the boring stuff does get really tedious. But if you are studying for something beyond the subject, eg, in my case it was acing my degree to prove something to myself, then the competitive side takes over.
There are people out there that devote themselves to memorizing decks of cards or arbitrarily long numbers. Cards or random numbers are not particularly interesting, so these folks invent mind games. They may take each card to represent a particular object and then make up some crazy story involving these objects. Suddenly to them what was mindbogglingly dull becomes tantamount to some epic screen play.
You can employ similar tricks to studying any subject. When studying for my degree there were a few things that really helped. Note taking, notes had to be as vivid as possible. I would always have multiple coloured pens and highlights as possible. Pictures, various sized and coloured text and lots of arrows. My notes became art. Mnemonics and stories were important for the long lists of things.
Also managing energy levels is pretty important. Regular sleep cycles, exercise help maintain focus. Environment makes a big difference. A library is much better than the common room.. Also, slightly controversially, I find the often given advice to take regular breaks when studying was highly damaging. If I allow regular breaks, then my focus shifts to watching for when my next break is. Also in the breaks I would get time to think about how dull this stuff was. So I would find maintaining pure focus for about 4 hours at a stretch much easier. It helps to have a variety of studying techniques to move around in. So moving between reading / note taking, mnemonic memorization, doing exercises, visiting tutors, discussing with study partners helps keep things flowing.