Ask HN: How can I focus on knowledge work that I find boring?
I'm really struggling because I find these problems incredibly boring, and I basically cannot make myself sit down and do the work. I try to just stop moving and focus, but I get distracted incredibly easy, always reading the news or browsing HN/Reddit. The longest stretch I've been able to work for in the past couple weeks is a half hour. This is contrast to personal projects - when I find something interesting, I can work for 10 hours straight, totally in the zone.
This is sending me in a bad spiral. I don't get any work done, which makes me unhappy, which makes it harder to get work done, and so it goes. I'm hoping some intelligent people here have some advice or recommendations.
I know that all of the above sounds incredibly entitled - it's a job after all, it's not supposed to be fun. But I'm really, really trying to make myself do this work and I just don't know if I can willpower my way out of this. It's like my brain refuses to work when presented with something I don't find interesting.