I keep a short list of programming problems handy - small use cases that interest me. When I feel like I'm slipping away into FB or Twitter or whatever, I break

I keep a short list of programming problems handy - small use cases that interest me. When I feel like I'm slipping away into FB or Twitter or whatever, I break out one of the problems and solve it. The secret, though, is to solve it from scratch each time. If you're really having trouble concentrating, do it in a new language (COBOL - seriously, this will keep you up at night). Some examples of my problem list: recursive function to show classified ads; FSM for reading old-style INI files; simplest possible chat protocol, either client or server I'm no psychologist, but I suspect that, once you get used to doing this kind of thing, it works a bit like self-hypnosis. Just create problems that you would find interesting.