My previous job was titled R&D engineer, but apparently they should have hired a lab technician, as I spent more than half my time at the end doing water hardness titrations (and in 3.5 years, probably no more than 3 or 4 weeks doing any actual calculations or engineering). Have you ever watched a water softener regenerate, collecting water samples of the waste going to drain every minute? Music helped somewhat, concentrating on the physics and chemistry of water, and mentally evaluating details of possible alternative ("green") treatment processes also helped. What did not help was mentally questioning why I was stuck doing repetitive work when I was hired to develop products. Nor did asking for something challenging to do, or to be allowed to review the literature on water treatment. If chewing my arm off would have helped, I would have done it, but I needed both hands to do the titrations. What really helped was anti-depressants, and getting another job.

I often have trouble writing reports. I put on headphones and play music loud, especially symphonic or electronic--the complexity of the music apparently helps occupy the excess brain cycles. Talking to co-workers about technical details,or their families and friends, while doing mindless tasks helps, but if it is a repetitive task requiring attention, talking makes me make mistakes. I also focus (for scientific tasks) on making the process as consistent as possible-every detail, and thinking about the physics and chemistry of various materials and processing techniques.