Steve Lambert is an artist who created SelfControl, a Mac app that blocks distracting websites, and the Add-Art project.
Commenters repeatedly recommend SelfControl for blocking distracting sites and mail, and one links his awkward 404 page as a favorite.
Best by far that I've found is SelfControl by Steve Lambert - thanks Steve!
http://visitsteve.com/made/selfcontrol/
It's OSX only though I'm afraid. It blocks at the network driver level and survives a restart. I switch it on for two hours or more, after one check of my email, before starting work in the morning. This initial two hours of inability to visit distracting sites usually gets me in the groove with whatever I'm working on. I then find I'm less likely to get distracted throughout the rest of the day and more able to stay focused on my daily task list.
I've been developing a system designed to get my procrastination under control. Fifty percent of this procrastination takes the form of reading posts from HN. So I feel your pain! My system is based on a modified version of Bill Westerman's GSD system (http://www.utilware.com/gsd3.html). I've got a draft blog post that describes it and the software I have used recently to help me focus. It's helped me finally get round to building what I think is going to turn into a pretty useful app for managing résumés.
I'll post a link to the blog article soon so keep an eye out for it here on HN.
This exactly the same for me. Just out of muscle memory, my reptilian brain starts typing Reddit or Hacker News into the URL field in my browser when I'm not paying attention. If I start my day wandering down the hacker news/reddit rabbit hole, I never really get out.
So when I wake up in the morning, literally before I do anything else on my computer, I turn on Self Control (http://visitsteve.com/made/selfcontrol/), which blocks sites that kill my productivity.
I've recently adopted org-mode for emacs, and it has helped immensely. Task #1 everyday: Turn on Self Control for a few hours. The last task everyday: Close all windows and make sure org-mode is greeting me when I wake up with Task #1 for the day.
I also recommend using a program like Self Control[1] to blacklist distracting websites for really bad cases where you're not consciously opening a distracting website because it has become muscle memory.
In addition to using Self Control, I also like to run a small local web server to display a page like http://phylab.mtu.edu/~nckelley/Focus/ whenever I try to visit a distracting website.
I plan on experimenting with some negative reinforcement by building an Arduino device that shocks me whenever I visit a distracting website when I should be working :D.
[1]
Mac: http://visitsteve.com/made/selfcontrol/
Linux: http://svn.jklmnop.net/projects/SelfControl.html
As a professional student, I will save you all some time. The secret of studying is encompassed in three programs:
* Anki[1] (spaced repetition[2])
* SelfControl[3] (avoid procrastination, block websites)
* Pink Noise[4] (block noise to study anywhere, anytime)
[1]: http://ichi2.net/anki/
[2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced_repetition
[3]: http://visitsteve.com/work/selfcontrol/
[4]: http://simplynoise.com/
Sweet. I am going to try this out!
Has anyone here used Self Control? (http://visitsteve.com/made/selfcontrol/). Sometimes when I block websites, like Reddit.com and this one and few others it makes other websites look weird. Like the page will still load but be broken. I think Self Control is blocking sites the same way this does. Any idea why this happens?
Even cheaper hack: two logins. I have one account for projects, one for play. On my project account, I run Self Control (http://visitsteve.com/work/selfcontrol/) to block distractions (now experimenting with Concentrate: http://getconcentrating.com/). I find just having two differently configured environments is a good cue which sets me in my work groove.