Hacker News Reader

That's true for all stimulants I've tried. They're better for repetitive tasks or ones that rely on motor activity. Better yet don't do stimulants unless you truly need them.

In my experience this is an effect of adderall and Ritalin, I have never experienced that on modafinil which I find allows me to 'choose' to be task orientated, or even fall asleep if I want

Same here. I have tried anything from 200mg to 25mg.

50mg daily every now and then works best for me.

Spot on. I found that Vyvance (sp? basically long release Adderall) was great for helping me stay on task far longer than I normally could, but in no way helped me pick the right task to stay on. :-)

It's no magic bullet; I still need to self discipline to pick the right things to work on. FWIW, I pretty heavily rely on todo lists for this.

I've had a similar experience using ritalin. If I have a clear task, I will feel a pressing need to execute that task.

If I don't have a clear task, I will procrastinate even harder.