May be, may be not, or may be in some other sense, not how you meant it.

When I was a junior at Moscow State, I had to write a paper on a topic assigned by my supervisor. I enthusiastically applied myself to that task diligently sitting day after day by my desk with no result whatsoever. After about 3 weeks I began worrying. Instead of thinking on the problem, I panicked. A useless thought took hold of my brain and made it difficult to concentrate on the math. It went something like, Look dear. What is it you are doing? Can't solve the problem, huh? What people would think? What a shame!

I was quite desperate, but kept on sitting at my desk. At one point, I noticed my mother tiptoeing by in order not to disturb my study. Regardless of what occupied my brain, from the outside I looked like a busy fellow, doing what I was supposed to do. But, as I said, I was not. At this point I decided that some drastic action was in order. To start thinking of math, I had to get rid myself of that idiotic thought. It was awfully hard, which made me even more nervous. Finally, to ban the thought, I began thinking aloud. The idea was that it was easier to control one's speech than one's thought.

This method worked like a charm. I solved the problem and finished the paper in the next 3-4 days.

There are standard approaches to learning and problem solving, but you must concentrate on what you do. Ask yourself questions and answer them. "What is it that page in the book about? Can I reformulate the main result in my own words? Can I think of a situation to apply that result?" "What is the problem about? Have I seen anything similar? Was there an example in the book?" "Now, that I solved the problem, let's see what happens if I change the problem a little." Etc.