The only thing that really works for me is when I make it a 25 minute hyper-focussed challenge: Set a timer and make the maximum progress that is theoretically possible in that time. No getting water, no toilet breaks, no looking at the phone. Beats 3 hours of getting a glass of water, toilet breaks, getting hungry, realising I should work out and shower first and finding more reasons to jump up any day - surprisingly. Got to always treat it as if it were a competition.
The first time I went to college, I was shit faced drunk every day, rarely went to class, and never studied. Somehow I managed to graduate with a B minus average, but not until after a couple terms of D averages and academic probation.
The second time I went to college, I was in my late thirties and had a much better understanding of the money I was paying and the consequences of failing as I had become a single dad. I went to class every day, sat in the front row, asked questions, read all the textbooks, did all the homework, and got out with a perfect 4.0 through two years of undergrad work and a year and a half of grad work.
I was pretty proud of myself until I later realized that I have never been asked for my grade average from either school for any job ever.
My classmate's dad from my first stint was a county judge and would say to us, "What are you worried about? The main thing is to keep going. Don't stop. As to grades, C's get degrees."
The man was entirely correct.
Good job achieving all that on hard mode!
The real achievement is that I got my daughter through a high falutin' extremely expensive college with no debt and now she makes more than I do.
I had to eat a whole lot of ramen and endure living in a shit hole rat infested rent house to pull it off, but she did the work, I was able to fund it, and it all worked out in the end.
Somehow, she still voluntarily speaks to me. That's the achievement.
You've done good, bro. Are you getting near retirement? I've thought about going back to school and doing it right this time too.
Got about twelve to fifteen years to go depending on circumstance. Been working for forty years as child labor laws weren't so strict when I was young. Pretty tired and not sure how I'm going to endure the home stretch.
If I ever go back to studying, it definitely has to be from home. Might even have worked out the first time then. Over 50 % of my energy went into the logistics of being at a specific location at a specific time with coursework done, and picking up the course certificates. Yes, I did all the courses for an intermediate diploma and more (back before BSc and MSc was a thing), but failed in picking up 20 % of them before they were destroyed.