没頭する [bottōu suru] means giving your whole mind to one thing, until you lose yourself in the work

this connects closely to what psychology calls flow
flow is the state where someone becomes fully absorbed in an activity, often with strong focus, less self awareness, and a strange change in the sense of time
researchers often describe it as deep task absorption, and it tends to happen when the task is hard enough to demand you, but not so hard that it crushes you
“bottōu suru” means to lose yourself, to be deeply immersed in your task but to do this effectively, you need to give your mind a worthy target
define your task in a way your brain can enter which means being specific
not:
“i’ll learn marketing”
better:
“i’ll study 3 strong crypto brand accounts and write down what they do differently”
not:
“i’ll improve my life”
better:
“i’ll spend 45 minutes cleaning my room, then 45 minutes applying to one good role properly”
a useful way to think about it:
没頭する = full attention + clear direction + no cheap escape
the positive side of 没頭 is that it can turn effort into an identity
when you keep giving your full mind to writing, you stop being someone trying to write and become someone who writes
when you keep giving your full mind to strategy, you start observing patterns you have never noticed
when you keep giving your full mind to your craft, your taste sharpens because your brain spends more time inside the thing
this begs the question; how obsessed are you over your craft?