I tend to take a similar approach to trying to be productive for the sake of keeping my stress levels down (and motivation up!).
When I'm failing to feel motivated or keep focused, I generally stop myself and instead ask myself why that might be: have I been getting enough sleep/exercise/socialization/etc? And I generally find my problem lies there, and then I can try to correct for it in the future (get to bed earlier, eat healthier, exercise more, etc).
If I'm still not feeling it after making corrections, then it's time to ask myself if what I'm doing is something that I really want to be doing? It's always disappointing when the answer is that it's not something I really want to be doing (sunk-cost), _but_ I've found walking away is better than continuing to beat myself up over a lack of motivation.
When I'm failing to feel motivated or keep focused, I generally stop myself and instead ask myself why that might be: have I been getting enough sleep/exercise/socialization/etc? And I generally find my problem lies there, and then I can try to correct for it in the future (get to bed earlier, eat healthier, exercise more, etc).
If I'm still not feeling it after making corrections, then it's time to ask myself if what I'm doing is something that I really want to be doing? It's always disappointing when the answer is that it's not something I really want to be doing (sunk-cost), _but_ I've found walking away is better than continuing to beat myself up over a lack of motivation.