[crispyambulance]

Many folks have been going through this. It sucks, and what works for some may not work with others.

Things that have helped me:

* Clear the goddamn desk. Things on your desk other than what you need is a distraction even if you see them and don't act on them.

* If you're like me, you have certain pavlovian impulses to hit up your favorite social media sites. HN has anti-procrastination features, use them. There's also black-listing browser extensions you can turn-on so you don't go to whatever time suck social media you use.

* Commit yourself to doing at least some meaningful work everyday. It's OK if it's only a short time. 1 or 2 hours of intense focus can easily look like a solid day's work to anyone that's paying attention to productivity.

* Talk to human beings one-on-one. If you can't help yourself, try helping someone else. You will feel better about work. Just call them up and offer to help them out of the blue. If not a co-worker, then a friend.

* When you take a break, really take a break. When you sit at your desk, really work.

These work for me. They may not work for you or anyone else.

[wodenokoto]

To add to the desk and HN thing:

Keep your work and private computer separate. Makes it much easier to do work when on the work machine and social network stuff when on the personal machine.

Failing that, have two separate accounts on your computer.

If possible, take breaks and lunch in a separate room from the computer.

[dublin]

THIS^^^ Especially important if you work for someone else. (If you're an entrepreneur, work and the rest of your life are just going to meld together, so in that case, one computer is handy, but keep separate emails, and I've found using separate browsers is good.)

I use Firefox as my personal/side project browser and Chrome/Edge for work. NEVER, EVER do personal or side project work on a computer you do not own - in most states that's enough for your employer to be able to claim IP ownership in anything you do. If you have to, go buy a used $100 laptop or Chromebook. If you can't afford that, you have no business pursuing a side hustle yet, anyway.

I've accidentally found that a shared monitor helps - I have a nice, big, 4K monitor that's way nicer than the dreck my employer provides, so I use it for work, too. Because I actually have to switch the input and that's a bit of a pain, it keeps things focused on work until the end of the day, when I switch over until the next morning. (This would be easier if the POS MacOS could properly detect the removal of monitors - Windows does this flawlessly!)

[soupfordummies]

This is great actionable advice no matter where you’re working. Had to login just to upvote this.