Some things are really and truly timeless - such as some problems. Distraction, for instance. Unfortunately, I do know this problem really well, from my very own, very personal experience. I am easily distracted sometimes (and if I have work to do that is really boring, or that I really am not too keen on doing, distracting me is that much easier).
Having a timeless (and therefore probably also very common) problem, though, at least means that one can feel in good company. For instance, in good company with medieval monks, who looked for solutions (or techniques) for this as well. Which is, amazingly, documented in an early 5th century text... that you can read more about at Aeon. Including a few hints on how the monks and nuns tried to minimise distraction, more or less successfully.