I'm sure this idea will help some people become more productive. Not people like me, though. Maybe I just get easily distracted, but I make small deals with myself when working through a mundane (but important) task.

Deals like:

- "15 more minutes and you can get a coffee".

- "You can't look at HN until 4pm".

- You get the picture.

A clock helps immensely with this. Sometimes a task feels like it's taking forever, but it's only been half an hour.