Distraction
A simple pre-study checklist: phone away, water nearby, notifications off, goal written down. Takes about 60 seconds and clears the small frictions that quietly derail a study session before it starts. Resets automatically each day.
Using it well
Distraction is almost never a decision. Nobody sits down, weighs the options, and chooses to check their phone instead of studying. It happens before the choice is conscious, which is why willpower is the wrong tool for the problem. The right tool is removing the option: if the phone is in another room, the impulse has nowhere to go and fades in a minute or two. The checklist exists so you do that every time, rather than only on the days you remember.
The default items cover the usual culprits: phone out of the room (face-down on the desk is not enough; studies find its mere presence reduces working memory), notifications off on the computer, water within reach so thirst does not become an excuse to leave, and a written goal for the session so the first minutes are not spent deciding what to do. Add your own. If you always get up to find a charger, "laptop plugged in" belongs on the list.
Ticking through the list takes under a minute and doubles as a starting ritual, which is its own benefit: the more automatic the transition into work, the less room there is for avoidance to creep in. The procrastination guide goes into why that transition is the hard part, and what to do when the checklist is done and you still do not want to start.