I think I've figured out one of the main reasons as to why I can't focus (besides the fact that I'm a lazy sod.)
My obsession of constantly monitoring the time passed during activities (reading and programming) is delaying my personal expansion and my desire to learn.
A few examples that I ask myself mid-way through a task:
>How long have I been reading for?
>How long to go until the chapter ends?
>How long have I been programming for?
These questions are not beneficial. On the contrary, they are highly detrimental to concentration and motivation. The sense of flow that I experience is halted by these thoughts, which jerks my mind back into reality. I then have to go through the whole process of trying to concentrate again. This happens numerous times throughout an activity.
To put it into an analogy: Try starting a generator with a cable (pulling it), letting it run for a few moments and then switching it off only to attempt to turn it on again the exact same way moments later. It's tiring, inefficient and thus kills the desire to learn.
Have any of you had moments of enlightenment that gives you the opportunity to remove your brain fog? It's like finding a bug in your code, now it's a matter of fixing it.