Sort the room out before you sort the willpower out. One agreed place to work, television off, phone in another room for the duration.

What the research says

A meta-analysis of mind wandering found that it rises as a task becomes more demanding and that people differ reliably in how much they do it, which is part of why outside structure carries load that attention alone cannot. Homework is demanding and often dull, so it sits right where drifting is likeliest. Those were laboratory attention tasks rather than kitchen tables, so this explains the pattern rather than testing the tidy room.

Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.