[opportune]

I think willpower is an important factor, but not the only one. The bigger issue is viewing lack of willpower as a personal moral failing rather than something that can be fixed with practice and attention. I really buy into the fact that willpower is like a muscle that you can exercise and that there are real practical ways to improve it. I've seen huge increases in my own focus and working ability in the last five years - part of that due to a maturing prefrontal cortex but in large part also because I've taken concrete steps to improving it (and reducing procrastination).

That is not to say that all distractions are easily fixed or that everybody should have great focus and attention.

[Fr0styMatt88]

Can you give any tips on where to start? Any particular books or anything you found helpful in giving you practical ways to exercise your willpower?

[opportune]

Not really books, but stuff I've picked up via osmosis, mostly from the internet:

First, the biggest way to make improvements quickly is to make sure you are getting good sleep, exercising regularly, and eating well. This does huge benefits for mood, alertness, and energy. Also if you drink, smoke weed, or take some other non-stimulant drug regularly that you don't need to be taking - stop. Not only do these impede focus while under the influence and for a day or two after, they also prevent you from getting high quality sleep (which is why you get very vivid dreams after ceasing regular use for a few weeks - you are catching up on REM sleep).

Second, set small bite sized goals. Instead of thinking about the long path ahead, it's better to think about what is the first thing you need to do. That really helps me prevent procrastinating. You can also do what I think of as "reverse procrastinating" where you tell yourself you'll take a 30m break from procrastinating right now to get something done - usually I end up getting in the zone and working for longer than 30m.

Taking breaks is also helpful. The frequency/length depends on the person and for me changes from day to day. If you catch yourself slacking or losing focus, or stuck on something, get up and walk around. When I'm at work I basically drink 5+ diet sodas a day, partially for the caffeine, but weirdly enough also because it makes me pee a lot so it forces me to get up and walk around every 1-2 hours.

The goal setting, and seeing them to completion or at least making good, sustained effort, is the part that improves over time with practice. Eventually you start setting larger goals and can start planning more (if you are like me, paralysis by analysis is really easy to fall into, so you have to take it easy here). I'm by no means some kind of self-actualized ubermensch, but these have really worked for me, to the point where I've transitioned from a serial procastinator in college - doing almost everything day before, day of, or late if the penalty was low - to someone who actually does stuff in advance and spends almost the entire workday working.

[icer2312]

If I've got any sort of work to do, where I could just as easily load up a game, I say to myself "I'm going to work on this for ten minutes until 3:30pm. Then if I'm sick of working on it, I'll just play the game instead."

It's exceptionally practical, since 95% of the time I end up working on that thing for longer than that ten minutes. For me, it alleviates the pressure of thinking I'll need to push through a task for hours by giving myself an escape hatch.

It's a "motivation follows action" technique/trick/hack.